Yarrow on Bloodied sheets
by bed of nails and sandpaper
Summary: After an accident Yamato needs an attitude adjustment in order to keep him alive. Can this loud and proud stranger, Taichi, be the one to help him save his life? Taito Yamachi- AU as angsty adults
1. Chapter 1

Yarrow on Bloodied sheets-

Yamato takes a drastic opinion change when he moves town. He meets his new inspiration, Tachi Yagami. Happy-go-lucky carefree man who does what he wants and when he wants. Whith Taichi's teachings he just might be able to bear living.

--

For more than 700 nights I had lain down in the same bed, with the same pyjamas, and with closed eyes, my subconscious created the same flickering images over and over; a recurring dream to be more precise. It starts at my current living facility in the exact arrangement that has remained unchanging since my first evening of moving in.

A brown leather sofa against the back wall with a coffee table approximately the same length situated roughly half a meter in front of it, for leg space. My beige walls have stubborn, oily handprints, courtesy of the previous owners, that have refused to move, even with the assistance of that highly know brand of washing liquid in the white and orange bottle. I owned a television set at one point, though it has never appeared in the dream, and in reality I lost it only a year ago in an accident. By accident I mean a very angry lover with very sharp stilettos. I haven't bought a new one since.

Instead of straying away from the subject to continue my analysis of my quarters I feel it best to just describe the events of this recurring dream. I'm sitting on the left side of my brown sofa on from a calculated estimate I have concluded to be a Friday from relating evidence, a coffee in my blue mug resting on the coffee table and an Ian Rankin novel clasped in my left hand with my right scratching the underside of my chin. It's a pretty regular start and continues in silence for a while. When the dream first occurred I wondered just how inactive my imagination must be to create such a dull and lifeless way to spend my time being unconscious.

After what seems like hours continuing in silence merely observing my self scanning over a book I've read too many times to count the tableau begins to come to life a bit. The perspective I have is comparable to a poor quality security camera bolted onto the top corner ceiling of the room so not everything is visible but I shall try to describe what I see as best I can.

Apparently I notice a disturbance in my kitchen and I turn around to see what it is, only to find it sound and return to my novel. Like a cliché horror I repeatedly notice a disturbance only to find nothing there over the next few minutes. Finally I do what all main protagonists make the mistake of doing and proceed to investigate further. I leave the hardback on the arm of the sofa and enter my kitchen area. I can only see rough movements through the doorway but it is easy to see that I do the regular ritual of searching, looking around cautiously first before looking in a few cupboards expectantly.

Finding nothing to be concerned about I return to my first position on the sofa, settling back into the exact groove that I had made previously. I reach over to my book on the table and open it up to the page that I had folded slightly, but before I perform my usual procedure of smoothing out the fold a look of confusion creases my brow. I slowly pull out from between the pages the remains of a wilting flower. Perhaps yarrow or Lady's-mantle, not that I know plant life particularly well other than a few I have seen or have come up in my literature.

I do nothing other than examine it for a moment; twiddling it around with my thumb and forefinger. I jolt and drop it back into the pages of the book. My finger now has a crimson line of blood dribbling down along the creases of my palms and dipping off of the corner of my wrist, a lot of blood for such a small cut. I hastily put the book back onto the table to avoid staining the pages with my bodily fluid and I attempt to lick away some of it on my fingers. My efforts cease when I see that there is too much blood, far more than a mere slice on my finger should produce, and the panic is clear on my face. The blood starts to flood my hands and arm with waves of red coming from seemingly nowhere and appearing on my other hand also.

I stand up and quickly dash around the coffee table to reach the closed bathroom door but am unable to twist the knob due to my slippery palms. I create red handprints all over the brass doorknob and a few others on the oak wood and droplets race downwards to a puddle on the floor. The dream ends before I can clean myself up and more than 700 nights I have woken up feeling as though my hands are dirty. As I run a hand through my hair I would mistake cold sweat for blood and feel that panic rise once more.

It's not even that terrifying a dream nor even that interesting. There is no horrific orchestral background music or a bad guy that chases me with a knife. It's just silence with the quiet hum of my breathing that gets shallower and more uneven as the dream proceeds. A dream like mine is more thought provoking or disturbing rather than scary. So thought provoking that some nights have been sleepless from me either pushing the dream at bay or analysing it over and over continuously until I hear my ridiculous buzzer on my alarm clock when I abandon my musings and prepare myself for another work day.

Work. Definition; the grey pinstriped pit of hopelessness, chicken salad sandwiches, paperwork and the overwhelming desire to either stab yourself in the eye with you ridiculously expensive parker pen or smash your face into the computer screen.

I remember a speech that one of my employers had given us after a lovely vacation. He said 'We spend only nine out of 24 hours at work per day so make the most of it and stop complaining that your hours are too long'. Needless to say all of us were motivated by his heartfelt speech. But what I really wanted to do was explain to him that yes, we spend nine hours at work but he hasn't taken into consideration the amount of work we have to bring home, which would most probably consume about four more hours of my time. I also intend to eat occasionally which, putting all of my meal times together, would add up to about an hour. Hygiene and preparation consumes an alarming amount of time as well. And finally sleep, which although I don't seem to be doing much of is still an important portion for rest.

So yes we only spend a small fraction of our day at work. But when we aren't there we are doing more work, or preparing for work, or travelling to work, or replenishing our energy in order to do more work, and if we're not working for money we're cleaning or buying things or being ridiculously and frustratingly nice to people which is nothing but a hindrance and waste of stamina. However I don't think that my boss would be too interested in my opinion of time management.

Thankfully my pathetic excuse for an autobiography doesn't have an opening scene in my office or grimy apartment. Clad in my work clothes I stood in the pitch black of a country road that was more than just 'out of my way' on my home journey. My grey jacket lay abandoned in a pit in the side of the road and I was uncaring that it might have been dirtied in its place, it wasn't as if I was intending on wearing it again. Correct. This was a suicide attempt.

I was calm and collected, thinking clearly and precisely and I had calculated my perfect demise. My positioning was three quarters up a hill in the path and in the very centre of the country road. My ridiculous salmon pink work tie was fastened over my eyes as a blindfold and I was gratefully that I'd tied it so tightly that it forcibly shut my eyes, that way I wouldn't have its grotesque, colour as the last thing I see. No one in this world could like salmon pink.

I was still contemplating whether this would go according to plan. Even with my perfect positioning to catch the driver off guard my light hair would surely by illuminated by the headlights and alert them of my presence. How humiliating it would be to have the driver pull up slowly and calmly behind and ask what plausible reason I could have to stand blindfolded in the middle of the road. If put on the spot like that I would most likely say something ridiculous that would stop me from seeming suicidal but succeed in making me look none too sane.

I would have chosen a much more sensible process but it was a matter of choice and elimination that got me here. The most common would be opening a vein, then an overdose, falling from an extreme height, hanging myself and finally a purposefully intended traffic collision. Sadly I had reasons to eliminate each of them, making this decision all the more tedious.

Slicing a wrist. I can normally handle gore better than a lot of people. I've been able to sit through countless cheesy horror movies and not even twitch at the amount of decapitation and blood lust. Though there are particular types of sensitive gore that I can't bear and there needn't even be any blood shed. I can barely stand to look at veins let alone run a dirty kitchen knife along one; it's a difficulty to wear a watch sometimes when I can't even tolerate catching a glimpse of blue when it accidently slides up my arm.

An overdose. The price of a relatively easy death is losing my dignity. It isn't as simple as taking a handful of pills and you just fall asleep. There's illness, loss of control over your bowels and a lot of vomiting which could even result in a failed suicide if the body has managed to get the drugs out of the system. I don't want to be found by my landlord a few days later rotting on the bathroom floor with soiled underwear and my face smeared in vomit.

Falling from an extreme height. The problem is not with me but with the public eye. The distance from my apartment window to the ground, or even from the roof, isn't guaranteed to be deadly. The only chance I would have would be if I fell head first and wished that I'd be lucky enough to land that way. God forbid I wake up in hospital paralysed or missing a few limbs. The highest buildings are in the centre of my town which is always overrun with people and I would most likely draw a lot of attention. The humiliation I would have to undergo of a rescue team standing behind me pleading "don't jump, you have so much to live for" makes me cringe with just the thought. There is also the possibility that with a crowd beneath me I would land on top of someone or on something that would break my fall and once again the possibility of surviving comes up.

Hanging one's self, being the most ancient and commonly used method of both execution and suicide. My distaste for this method was more a reason of trial and error. My first attempt involved a sturdy rope, courtesy of the camping equipment my younger brother presented to me for my birthday for some inexplicable reason, and my shower curtain rail on a Thursday evening. With the rope fastened securely around the metal frame and my neck the stool underneath me was kicked away. It worked for about two seconds and my air supply was temporarily cut off, until the reality that I actually weigh something came crashing down on my and the rail broke away from the plastic base attached to the ceiling. I fell backwards into my shower knocking my skull twice against first the shower head and then the back wall as I continued my descent. With the enjoyment of finally hitting the wet floor with my legs akimbo and a throbbing head I finally got the pleasure of a smack in the face from the hanging shower railing. So, needless to say I decided to abandon that option.

With collision as my final remaining alternative I had already set my plans into motion, consideration of time and place, whether I would leave a note to my brother or have a last phone call, would it be by train or car and physical and mental preparation. My friend in high school told me once that when you die you supposedly release all of the contents in your stomach, so bringing up my insane obsession with pride I made sure that there were no contents in my stomach and bowels before driving out to my death site. I hadn't eaten since lunch time the day before and had taken a few laxatives just in case. The blindfold was part of my mental preparation. Anyone would feel uneasy knowing that death is speeding towards them at about forty or fifty miles per hour. I planned to trick myself into a false sense of security.

Although now I have a different perspective of my life I still look back at those two hours that I stood blindfolded and wish I were back there. Not that I want to die, but that tranquil feeling of expecting death was the happiest I'd ever been in my life.

It's like the last few minutes of the last school day ever just watching that red second hand on the classroom clock savour each passing moment only to be filled with unimaginable relief when it finally ticks its last tick of the last minute. It's like watching the most delicious dessert rotating slowly in the microwave and you can visible see the pastry moisten or the chocolate melt and start to drizzle onto the plate.

It was beautiful to have silence that wasn't soiled by the sound of a passing driver with a severe case of road rage, or the man in the apartment to my left hearing his favourite song on hip-hop fm and deciding to turn it up to the point that you can hear crackles of dust that were on the microphone when it was recorded, or if it were a Wednesday I'd be able to hear the man in the other apartment next to mine giving a proper welcome to the prostitute he hires weekly.

The breeze of the country side prickled the hairs on my forearm and managed to trickle down my back and chest through the gape of my unbuttoned shirt collar. The pristine folds had been scrunched and pulled as much as possible to release me of the chokehold the material had captured me in. My body was tense but my breathing was even and I let each breath out slowly. I could hear a few cars in the distance but I couldn't sense any coming towards me so it was safe to say that I had a few more minutes of peace.

I didn't have an ounce of doubt or regret other than occasional thoughts of Takeru occurring in my tracks of musing. Life was wasted on a soul such as my self. What I was doing at that point in time wasn't living but simply dying unbearably slowly. Nothing was new to me. Relationships and sex had become a chore, alcohol was nothing more than a big headache when I woke up, and people were nothing but selfish bastards such as my self who might even be thinking the exact same thoughts about me as I do them.

I was years too early to consider the phase a midlife crisis which meant that I should probably reserve buying a jag until my actual midlife crisis. But if I were dead then I would never be able to buy a jag, but if I buy a jag instead of dying then does that mean that suicide would have been my reserve for my midlife crisis. How annoying.

I was enthralled by the sound of a car engine that was louder than the others and getting louder still. It had turned left at the busy junction and was on its way. I couldn't see any lights on the road thanks to my blindfold but I could sense a fast movement and hear the revved engine. The hum and grumble sounded a bit rusty which meant that the car was quite ripe and I wouldn't be damaging a beautiful machine. I could almost consider it a sin to damage a beautiful car. The driver was going about forty or forty five; a good speed. But I started to regret blinding myself, being unable to see if the car was six meters away or six centimetres. I was grateful that it was approaching from behind to save an awkward face to face with my killer, even though we wouldn't be making eye contact.

I could feel a headlight making its way up the other side of the hill and my steady breathing became a hassle to control. My sweaty palms clenched by my hips and my sleeves had unravelled in the country wind and were wrapped around my arms. I could practically feel the warmth of the car and its passengers burning through my back, I shuddered and suffered the strangest sensation as the muscles in my shoulders started to quiver. I couldn't tell what sort of emotions would result in my physical responses; fear, anticipation or even shock. The unsuspecting driver was just on the peak of the hill and only a few feet away from me.

I was ready to be hit full force and every muscle and organ tensed or contracted in suspense. But regretfully at the very last second when the mother fucker was only about a man's length away did I hear the screech of him or her applying the breaks. The bumper collided with the back of my shin at a pathetic velocity but was enough to set me off balance. Halfway through falling backwards the front of a cold windscreen came in contact with my hips, thigh and a small portion of my lower torso which was just enough to hurtle me forwards. If it was going fast enough I should have either smashed into the windscreen or rolled up and over.

I hit the stony floor in an awkward and uneven manner, one leg bent and tucked into my chest and with my face scraping on stone my home made blindfold had slid down to hang from my neck with one end trapped under my front effectively choking me. I was almost fully conscious so I had a haze free mind at hand to quickly debate what I should do with my hands. Should I try and stop myself from sliding any further or let the flail ridiculously wherever they may? I sufficed with having them dangle uselessly by my side, stones carving paths along my arms and hands.

I eventually ended up in a dip in the road in quite a bit of pain but not enough to consider that death had his scythe held over my throat. It felt as if I was observing the world from deep inside a cave. Noises of a person opening and closing the car door echoed and were muffled. When I felt a hand brush my arm it felt moist only to remember that it wasn't the hand that was wet, it was my arms that were coated in blood. My vision wavered into and the back of my eyes throbbed. As a black rim collected around my sight the last thing I saw before black was the small cream buds of the yarrow that was blooming beside the road. My last thought? Yet another suicide failure.

--

_I'm just taking the piss, starting several stories and then abandoning them. Well I intend on posting the next chapter to my longest fic quite soon and hope to get more reviews and I'll see how many i get. If not many then I will delete it and concentrate on the other one or start a new one with something more appealing to my taste._

_IF I GET FEW REVIEWS I WILL DISCONTINUE_


	2. Chapter 2

When I passed out at the crash site it felt that I had only just closed my eyes before I was forced to open them again. Through my eyelids I saw brown and red patches where a light was being shined on my face. I don't understand what good flashing a light in someone's face would do if the person was seemingly unconscious. They would either, not wake up because they are asleep or they would spring up and slit the throat of whoever was bothering them. My choice would have been the latter if it weren't for a piercing headache and being disconnected from my limbs, not literally of course but it certainly felt that way.

The Bed had been raised so that I was almost at a ninety degree angle, which could link to the pain in my neck and back, and what I could only assume was a doctor had his face about five inches away from mine. His irises had greying edges and the skin of his brow hung to form a second eye lid and I cringed instinctively. Surprise was evident when he saw that his primitive technique had succeeded in bringing me back to reality. It was sickening to see the sagging skin and wrinkles of his face sway with the movement of his head as he moved away swiftly.

"Ah, good morning Mr..." He spoke and tried to avoid eye contact by grabbing the chart that was hung at the end of the bed and obviously searched for my name. "…Ishida" I hated the way he pronounced it, putting too much emphasis on the middle 'i'. He took a long pause in order to examine the chart, or at least pretend to, and allowed me to wearily examine my surroundings. It was quite similar to what I had imagined it to be, except that the main colours consisted of blues and greys instead of green which I was relieved to discover. It's just another strange part of my personality and my responses and opinion to colour. I was also found to be wearing a hideous hospital robe that revealed my entire behind and exposed it to the cold of the lumpy mattress. The white material had tiny interwoven patterns of blue and green squares and polka dots that from afar would probably just look like a blend of mouldy greys and whites.

"You can thank your obscenely light hair colour that you are alive, Mr Ishida. If it hadn't drawn the attention of the driver you would have been hit with full force." I knew that I should have worn a hat. Curse my western heritage. I only nodded at him with supposed indifference when I was actually seething in annoyance.

"You've been out for about eight hours so I'm afraid the man who submitted you here has already left. But we found your brother's phone number in your wallet and he has been notified of your whereabouts." I involuntarily flinched at hearing they'd called Takeru. He'd always been one to express concern or uncertainty in strange ways, namely anger, and I wasn't solid enough to handle his full potential.

Bringing up an old childhood memory just for the sake of it, when I'd broken my arm by falling out of the tree outside of my apartment, I could recall a twelve year old Takeru giving me a lecture about how I shouldn't climb trees and be so reckless. Our similarities are so vast that we clash, both controlling and emotionally confused. He never used to be that way but, like myself, he probably developed it along with his adolescence.

The doctor shook my hand, or more grabbed it from its useless place of lying dormant at my side, and introduced himself as Dr Hemwell. His extra chins and loose skin of his neck wobbled like a turkey's and just observing it I became very conscious of the skin under my own chin. I could almost feel it dangling and with lack of movement I couldn't satisfy the urge I had to smooth it down or cut it away.

I was humoured when he told me about my injuries, as if I was a simpleton who couldn't understand anything more complicated than a McDonalds menu. I had received a minor concussion due to the impact, both severe and minor bruising on my hips and torso, either a dislocated or fractured collar bone, I can't really recall, and a broken rib. Overall it was a very pathetic suicide attempt. Not even life threatening.

I sunk back as much as possible into the scratchy bed sheets feeling a headache in the exact place that I had smashed into the road. I probably had stitches but I was too afraid to feel them to try and find out. Dr Hemwell decided to leave me upon receiving a message from reception that Takeru had arrived.

When I get nervous or stressed I've normally had a habit of keeping my hands busy, wringing them together, clicking my fingers or rubbing one thumb over the other vigorously. But with the painkillers that were starting to kick in and the fatigue I still found it difficult to make any form of movement that would be significant. This meant that I was getting more jittery by the minute. As well as my conscience being swarmed with thoughts and worries my hands were now itching for movement that I couldn't grant them and pent up my frustration.

I couldn't hear Takeru's footsteps pounding down the corridor through my closed door but sure enough I saw his hunched figure pass by my window completely oblivious. He was obviously too angry to notice that he had passed my room. When he retraced his steps he looked through my window completely puzzled and I waved. My nonchalance annoyed him a little bit more and he swung open the door with such force.

"Ishida Yamato, what did you think you were doing?!" he said in a harsh whisper and being respectful enough not to shout amongst the other patients. I looked at him plainly and, being defiant as I am, I didn't answer. After closing the door he stalked over to the plastic blue chair in the corner and dragged it to the side of the bed, seating himself firmly on it.

I could tell that he had barely woken up before rushing here. I couldn't blame him for looking a mess considering it was now into the early morning and this was one of the few days where he didn't have a lecture to go to. His T-shirt looked like it had been worn the day before as did his trousers, he hadn't bothered to tie his trainers and just tucked them under the tongue as a substitute and his short blonde looks glowed under the sickly caramel light of the patient ward, sticking up and out in every direction possible. It felt comforting to know that he loved me so much that he would leave the house in a mess to be by my side…and slap me into sanity.

"I spoke with Dr Hemwell downstairs. What were you doing out of town so late at night, and walking no less?" He was suppressing aggravation in order to get me to talk. He needn't do that when I would have told him even if he was shouting. We kept firm eye contact while we discussed important matters. My reply was in a voice that suggested that the answer to his question had been obvious.

"I needed somewhere to think."

"And you couldn't have done that at home?"

"Not really."

I could easily hear him heave a heavy sigh and he slumped over to rest his face in his hands.

"Sometimes I really doubt the solidarity of your mind, Yamato." He muffled through his palms, his melancholy voice filling me with guilt I should have felt hours ago. I remained silent, contemplating whether I should tell him that I do the same. He swiftly sat up and rubbed his face of all weariness and anger, turning it white as the pressure clogged the blood flow to his cheeks.

"You're gonna look like a mummy when you go back to work with all those bandages." He laughed in a feeble attempt to bring up my spirits. But how funny could a joke be if it involved the hellish word "work"? I broke eye contact for the first time since he entered and lowered it to the patterns on my robe. My movements were sluggish which I concluded as a result of the morphine I was prescribed.

"Speaking of mummies, Mum wanted to apologise that she couldn't come. I phoned her on my way here and she said she had something important to do at work." What an almost valid excuse, but at least he'd tried. I hadn't seen the woman who gave birth to me in almost two years, if you don't count seeing her through my window as she dropped Takeru off at my apartment. She loved me, but she didn't know what to do with me. After the divorce I began to see less and less of her as her and Dad started to become uncomfortable around each other. Dad even used to struggle conversing with Takeru if she was mentioned.

"It's okay. I just want to get out of here as fast as possible." That was telling the truth. I didn't want to go to work but I found it worse to be left alone in a hospital room with my thoughts. Takeru nodded with a smile and shifted his chair closer, the sound of plastic on tile flooring echoed throughout my room. I could see on his face that he was mentally preparing to say something emotional and awkward for the both of us. A faint blush tinted his cheeks and he was rubbing his hands together. How alike we are.

"When I was told you were hit I assumed the worst. I was so worried y'know? You do something stupid like that again and I'll break more than just a few ribs." His vision was set on inspecting bed sheets until he said the last sentence, in which he pointed an accusing finger at me. It was a good attempt at sappiness that still managed to bring the smallest smile to my face. I nodded my head even though I wasn't entirely sure whether I wouldn't do something like that again, but probably not using the same method. It was terrible to be thinking of that while Takeru was still in the room but I couldn't deny the truth.

During the half an hour Takeru and I didn't speak much and he understood that I didn't exactly want to. He just sat in the chair with his warm hand laid over my dead one at my side. Occasionally he mentioned something humorous that happened to him recently, not expecting me to respond to his tale, just to make me chuckle a bit. I didn't manage to properly laugh at any of them, just keep my mouth closed and huff a chortle through my nose. The drowsiness from the painkillers started to kick in coming to the end of his visit and I clung to my self respect and tried not to fall asleep while Takeru was in the room.

When the voice through the speaker in the corner of the room told that visiting hours were over he stood up hesitantly.

"I'm gonna go call your boss, and if you need a break to do more "thinking" then you could come with me to Odaiba in two weeks."

"Why are you going there? It's nothing but wet and cold."

"Not always, just the times you've been there. I'm meeting my pen pal."

"Pen pal?!"

"Yeah, don't laugh! She's really cute and invited me over for a few weeks. She takes some of the same subjects as me so we can study together and I won't be slacking."

I thought it over for a moment thinking of my options. Continue to return to work and most probably have my cock ripped off by the end of the week, go to Odaiba and have what could be the most awkward experience of a life time, quit my job and become a male prostitute or take the time that Takeru is away to have another shot at 'biting the dust' in the words of Freddy Mercury.

"I think it'd just be too awkward for me to be hanging around a load of younger people in a place I know nothing about."

"Oh, but she has an older brother. He's early twenties I think. Surely you'll find something to talk about."

The speaker blared once more as a reminder that he should be heading to reception. The female voice read the message angrily as if she wanted all visitors to spontaneously combust. Takeru sighed heavily and pulled on his grimy red T-shirt.

"Just think about it and call me."

He ran a hand through my hair soothingly and kissed my forehead with my hand on his shoulder pulling him closer. His scent is so familiar and comforting to me that I unconsciously leant further into his chest, not minding the smell of pizza and pencil shavings on his clothes. I could see the reluctance he had to release me but did eventually and left with a wave closing the door as silently as possible. It wasn't long afterwards that I let the grip on my pride to loosen as I allowed the drugs to lull me to sleep.

--

So I was back at my little desk next to the world's sweatiest man and the world's most promiscuous woman. With tender sores all over my body I'd only began to realise just how painful everything and everyone could be. I never used to mind being crammed into an elevator or someone accidently pushing my chair into my desk, but now even the slightest breeze can cause such immense pain.

My boss let me rest a while before returning to work. How generous of him to give me a week to heal my broken bones. I don't know how he expected me to work up to standard with bandaged hands and tight bandages around my chest and collar. I couldn't even sit up straight let alone write anything.

I find it ironic that my abode is in such poor condition and yet I am an interior designer. I'm obviously not as experienced or as well known as the other designers over thirty who work for the same company but my salary is enough to get by. I'd worked with a smaller company before this one with terrible pay, but I loved it. Everyone was welcoming and social, the work stations were desks strewn around a main room so it was easy to find someone and you didn't have to kiss the shoes of every sap that walked in.

This company you had two kinds of people. Sneaks and suck ups. I may not be a fantastic designer but I'd had more than one person peer at my work and found that they'd sold off a replica as their own. I could never accuse them or try proving it was my own because of my inferior place on the business ladder. They could have my fired with a click of their tongue.

The other workers, though most in a similar position as myself, are either under you or against you. By 'under you' I don't mean it as a sexual euphemism. I mean it as someone with an even lower rank who begs me to let them clean my shoes with their mouths in order to steal some of my ideas and get a promotion. Or there's always the possibility that they actually like the taste of my shoes.

My desk is cramped in a cubicle leaving me no opportunity to socialise. Not that there's anyone to socialise with, but I at least want the opportunity. All I have is the overbearing smell of BO sifting through my cubical wall from the guy next door accompanied with the noises of the other woman watching pornography on her computer when the coast is clear. God just has a sick kind of humour if he finds it funny to constantly put me next to sex addicts and weirdos. But then again most of the world's population fit into those two categories.

The project I was working on with all of my injuries was regrettably the one that I actually wanted to do my best on. There was a huge chance of a promotion if the couple I was working for liked the design. If I succeeded it meant a new apartment without any handprints on the walls. If I failed it meant that my boss wouldn't trust me with a project ever again. So it was quite bad luck that I was assigned with this important task while I, as Takeru very nicely put it, looked like a mummy.

I held the mechanical pencil in a claw as I scratched away at the design I'd started. With squiggly lines instead of straight and badly drawn corners it wasn't looking as good as the image in my mind. They'd wanted antique but not outdated, wooden but not tacky, decorative but not over the top. By sitting back and look at my few rough sketches so far I could see that that was easier said than done.

Over the seven days that I had off to decompose in my apartment I'd had time to think again about Takeru's trip to Odaiba. Of course I still hated my job, still hated my apartment, still hated myself; but I'd never hate Takeru. In the hospital, when he'd held me and asked me to go away with him he sounded like he needed me, and I'd never abandon him. But that had been exactly what I was doing on that country road. I wanted to regret it for his sake, I really did. But I only regretted failing and that made me feel like I also failed at being an older brother.

I kept trying to urge myself to call Takeru and ask to accompany him to Odaiba, that way I could stop myself from doing it again. Just being back at the office, with the sneers on horrid faces that made bile rise in my throat, just made me want to jump out the window as soon as the elevator doors had opened.

"Hey Matty. Good to see you've gotten over that crash so quickly." A voice came from behind me where another employee was leaning on the edge of my cubicle wall. I didn't know his name or which area he worked in, nor did I really care. He was just talking to me because he either wanted something or wanted to gloat about something. I didn't bother to turn round to him or even dropped my pencil.

"My name is Yamato so don't call me Matty, and I haven't gotten over the crash at all."

I could feel the tension and knew that he was insulted. He didn't back away though. It was almost as if he thought that I cared or that I considered him something more than an annoying little buzzing noise in my ear. He pulled at his tie that was similar to mine. Salmon pink with a little gold badge underneath the knot. The only uniform requirement that was compulsory and I was getting sick of it very quickly.

I thought he'd left silently when I couldn't hear any movement but realised my mistake when he appeared closer than before peering over my shoulder.

"You should probably use a ruler for that. Nice colour scheme though." I just growled and tucked a few sheets underneath the one that I was working on to stop him from looking.

"I can't use a ruler because of a huge gash on my other hand. Did you need something?"

"Just wanted to talk. What's with you?"

"I have a stranger breathing down my neck while I'm trying to work and pissing me off." I was disappointed that he just walked away after my final statement. I wanted a good fight with someone. I was more than ready to reopen the wound on my hands by punching someone in the face.

I returned to my work thinking about my next meeting with the couple to personally explain some of my ideas and apologise for my terrible illustrations. I'd met them once before the accident and I didn't enjoy their company. The woman looked prude and twice her age. The skin of her cheeks was pinched tightly in a condescending grimace as I'd tried my best to be charming. I gave the warmest smile I could manage, I'd dressed in my best suit and I'd even pulled out her chair for her to sit. All I'd got in terms of respect from her was a frown and a sharp tone. Her husband looked weedy and almost afraid of the woman he'd married. He sat there in his seat silently as he wife rambled and occasionally stuttered a yes or no when his wife asked for his approval, not that she needed it or anything.

I finished up my final sketch quickly as I saw that it was five o'clock. I had to bring work home again from the looks of it. I saw that guy who'd been talking to me before as I walked to the elevator. He looked at me in not a necessarily challenging way, or even offensive way. I couldn't explain how he just pin pointed his vision onto me from his position against some other poor chumps cubical wall. I raised my eyebrows at him as if to say "what're you looking at?" but it was probably not as threatening as I thought with my obvious limp.

After I pushed the button I still felt that strange look he was giving to the back of my head. He sauntered casually up to the side of me and waited for the elevator. Of course I questioned his motives and still wondered about that look he was giving me out of the corner of his eye. He rocked on his heels with one hand in his greasy black clumps of hair.

As the doors opened only a few people came out of the elevator yet all of them found it necessary to test whether they could walk through me. I was pushed and shoved in all directions and my tender wounds screamed in protest. I kept in tiny screams as I followed the other man into the elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor. I tried to isolate as much as possible by leaning against the wall in the corner as I tried to sooth the pain by rubbing gentle circles across my chest and shoulders.

"Y'know I normally work on the second floor." I heard his droning voice once more and tried to focus on anything but it. I observed the fake wooden tiling of the floor, the metallic doors, anything possible.

"I just came up to your floor to confirm a legend going around the office. The 'free ticket' to a promotion." That last statement made me curious. I turned to look at him but he was far more interested in his reflection on the opposite, metal wall. It was revolting to see him lick his hand in order to smooth down stray hairs.

"My friend told me about this blonde guy on fourth that is a complete push over." I wasn't so sure I wanted to listen to this anymore, but I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He looked so indifferent while saying these things.

"He has good work that you can copy. If you can submit it fast enough you can pass it off as your own. Kai got promoted from it along with Tomo, Kaisu, Chiko and Hin. So easy that you'd almost feel sorry for the guy." I really wanted to punch him in the face. I really, really, _really _wanted to punch him in the face.

"So, did you find the guy you were looking for?"

"Oh yeah. It was easy if you think that there are only two blondes in the entire building. A feisty bastard but I got a good idea of a colour scheme from him, which was just what I needed." The bell dinged to signal the ground floor and he smugly straightened his tie just as the doors opened. I could imagine me hurling myself out of the elevator and shoving my nicely polished loafers up his arse. But I just stood there watching his figure getting smaller and smaller as he walked away.

So, I was a legend? It was a nice end to a horrid day to find that it really was just me who was getting stepped on. I didn't stop the elevator doors as the closed again and I still remained in the same position. Instead I just pushed the button for the fifth floor and paced angrily as I waited to arrive.

All of those plain faces curiously slithered out from their cubicles as I stormed towards the office at the end, like timid animals emerging from the deep crevices of their caves. With each heavy step my rage and over all 'fed up'ness dissolved to reveal an underlining of nerves. But I kept my image of looking confident as I wrapped on the door, completely ignoring the receptionist stuttering and starting that I needed an appointment.

When I didn't here a voice confirming permission for me to enter I just walked in anyway. Red face, beer belly, $500 suit, sweaty and wrinkled brow, and a hairline that is more non existent than receding are sitting on the opposite side of the desk chatting animatedly on the phone. He looked at me for a moment, confused that his receptionist had allowed me in, and waved for me to sit down until he'd finished.

He shouted a finalising 'No. Do as I say because I'm the boss.' and the phone was slammed down onto the cradle. I could see that he was agitated when he focused on me, but I was strong enough to squirm under his stare.

"What do you want Ishida?" His eyebrows dipped in the centre where they met creasing his brow more and making him look all the more infuriated. No one had ever seen a smile on his face bar from the occasions when his wife came to visit. By the looks of her she was most likely a gold digger, waiting for the opportunity to send his flabby arse to hell and get her hands on his small fortune.

"I want a break. I can't work with these injuries and I'm frankly useless if I can't hold a pencil." I was proud of the way I spoke to him. Firmly but respectfully with good reasoning, but obviously not good enough reasoning.

"No, now get out of my office."

"Fine. Then I quit." That got his attention. I was surprised that he understood it though with the speed that I'd blurted it out. I was too nervous to properly form words so to me it just sounded like I'd only listed a string of vowels.

He looked at me with his tiny, carnivorous eyes and I looked back with my own. I half expected him to say 'Good riddance. Get the fuck out of my office.' But surprisingly

"How long a break are we talking?" I flinched before I answered allowing the sort of shock I was experiencing to show. Of course I scolded myself for letting my mask of confidence slip, and as soon as it was off it was back on again with me looking heavy footed once more.

"My younger sibling needs an escort for a trip and I intended to recover while being his chaperone."

"I didn't ask why, I asked how long!"

"About five weeks." He tapped his finger on the desk and stared at me. He was most likely thinking 'Is he worth it?' and I half wanted him to fire me so that I didn't have to come back after this trip.

"How far are you on the Carlington project?"

"I've got most of the sketches up and as for presentation they sort of speak for themselves." He paused again. The striped light coming though the blinds showed imagery I'd have felt much better not having in my head. The room looked menacing enough with all sorts of strange modern art sculptures my boss had a taste for, but with his raised chair and shadowed self portrait behind him I felt as though I were making a deal with a demon. He pointed a bulbous finger at me that could compare with that of a tree frogs in shape.

"I'll give you those five weeks and I'll have your sketches given to the Carlingtons. If they like it, you come back and we get you a new office on the second floor. They don't like it then don't bother coming back." It seemed like a reasonable deal. Sovereignty or freedom. I nodded and shook his sweaty hand before leaving with the beginnings of a hint of traces of a tiny grin. Screw what's-his-face and his accusations. If I'm lucky I'd get an office next to his or something, then I could do all sorts of devious things as compensation.

--

When I got home the greasy handprints bid me a good evening and I made a beeline straight to my phone to ring Takeru. I was more than proud of myself that I was finally calling him, even though it was weeks after I had intended to and it was extreme short notice. He was only leaving in a few days and I prayed it was still possible for me to go with him. How humiliating it would be to have to return to work.

It rang a few times and I settled myself onto my sofa in an awkward position. I never felt comfortable to put my feet up onto the table in front of me, or even slouch. So I just suffered sitting upright with my elbow resting on the arm.

"Hi, this is Takeru's phone." I got his answering machine after a few rings. He was probably too busy preparing for the trip to answer. I patiently waited for the tone while playing with the buttons on my jacket I had yet to take off. Normally when on the phone I would fiddle with the chord, but since I bought this new wireless upgrade I never knew what to do with my hands.

"Hey 'keru, it's Yamato. I've changed my mind about that trip thing and I was just wondering if it was too-" I heard a click before I was able to finish my sentence. Takeru had obviously rushed to pick it up.

"Wait wait wait, Yamato! Don't hang up!"

"I haven't, don't worry."

"Good. Are you serious about changing your mind?"

"Yeah, I have. I need a break and I don't care how or where."

"That's exactly what I've been trying to tell you. You'll thank me for taking you, honestly. And we could have brotherly bonding and stuff y'know? I've missed that."

"Yeah, me too." We both suddenly sound so quiet.

"Anyway, I'm heading off not tomorrow but the day after."

"So soon?"

"Well, yeah. I'm eager to get up there and I want to get there before the bad weather sets in."

"The bad weather is there 24/7, I don't think there's a way to avoid it."

"Well, even if there is I think we can make the most of it."

"You mean to use the cold as an excuse to seduce this innocent girl you are visiting?"

"Possibly. But you could use it like that if you want. How long as it been since your last girlfriend?"

"Two months."

"Two months? I thought you dumped Ginny four months ago?!"

"I got another one and got rid of her within the first few weeks. I think her name was…umm…Sam?"

"Just shows how good a boyfriend you are. None of them last more than a few weeks and you don't even remember their names."

"All the more reason not to get another one."

"Fine your choice. You're gonna need about two suitcases worth of stuff if you want to last those five weeks."

"I don't even own two suitcases worth of stuff. You could fit my entire apartment into a wash bag."

"Ugh, I'll come round tomorrow to help you. Don't sleep in until noon like usual, okay?"

"For you I suppose I could make that sacrifice."

--

So, I had been forced to go shopping and buy clothes that don't have holes in them or are more than three sizes two big or too small. I'd actually managed to fill one and a half suitcases full of absolute rubbish that I'd spent so much money on. I would probably only wear half of it considering I only liked half of the clothes I bought. The other half were too revealing or too tight that Takeru kept insisting looked good on me and I was bullied into buying.

We happily took his car that was in much better condition than mine. I was even prepared for the bad weather with my big zip up jumper and mile long scarf. Though I looked utterly ridiculous I would do anything to avoid catching pneumonia, and I've been well known to have a terrible immune system.

The drive to Odaiba took about ten hours so we'd had to set off so very early in the morning. Early enough that the shadows still roamed the streets below my apartment and swarmed in dusty corners until the street lights would flicker. I'd had to take a bus to his apartment and got an up close look at the sorts of uncanny specimens that got the night bus. They were types of people that unconsciously rocked back and forth or mumbled to themselves. I'd made a mental not to never, ever get the night bus ever again in fear that they would either attack me at some point or I would become one of them.

It felt strange taking a long break from work. My longest holiday was three weeks during summer and even then I had to bring an equal amount of work home. Going on this trip had basically gotten me fired already. The Carlingtons were nasty people and my sketches were even nastier. No doubt I would be receiving a call while away to tell me that I won't be returning to the office. But maybe that was what I needed. A new job and I might've been happier. Even if Takeru was a bit naïve when it came to those things he could still help me, or at least motivate me.

Mum was at Takeru's place to send him off. I didn't have a clue though until he'd buzzed me up to get him, she'd answered the door. I was frozen there and then and, by the looks of it, so was she. She didn't even say hello before waddling back into the apartment, leaving the door open for me to just come inside.

She'd changed a lot since I'd last seen her about two years ago. Her hair looked an unnatural colour from the strange dye she used to colour it and she'd abandoned her youthful fashion sense. I didn't even try and talk to her when it was clear that she wasn't going to try either. I sat as stoically as usual on the edge of the sofa and waited for him to get his cases.

I'd thought that after Dad died she'd talk to me more, at least be there to comfort me. I had no one to help me except Takeru, and I was the one helping him. She'd just patted my shoulder and smiled at the funeral after dragging Takeru away.

She followed Takeru and I down the stairs and I got into the car straight away while Takeru said goodbye. I was appalled at myself that I was jealous of the attention he received from her, but I couldn't really blame myself completely. I was the defective child.

As soon as we set off on open road he'd fallen asleep in the passenger's seat looking as innocent as always. Lord knows I'd bear my hatred of life in order to keep him that way. With coffee instead of blood running through my system I was more than prepared for those gruelling ten hours.

--

As we proceeded through the miles I could visibly see the sky get greyer as we drove. I wore my scarf even while driving I was so paranoid. It was one thing to get sick and it was another to get sick in a strange neighbourhood, in a strangers home with strangers seeing when you're vulnerable and drinking chicken noodle soup by the gallon.

"Nii-chan, are we there yet?" In Takeru's moment of delirium as he was still drowsy he'd had a slip of the tongue and called me by my old nickname. It accomplished the task of making me think of him as even younger and I couldn't help but smile a little.

"We've got about half an hour to go. We're just entering Odaiba now. I just have to find the place." He took a sharp breath in through his nose and forced himself to wake up a bit more. He pressed his face and shoulders up against the window as he stretched and left a flare of mist spreading across the window from his condensing breath.

My patience got out of the car a few roads behind when the satnav continuously said that I was in a river, all I could think of was 'wow, this river looks a lot like the road I'm supposed to be on.' I just turned it off and used the old fashion method of reading signs and following other cars.

The little blonde really was like me, already fixing his hair and trying to get rid of the red handprint he'd left on his face from leaning on it. I still kept my eye on him while I circled the wet roads. Odaiba really was just as despondent as I'd left it the last time I'd visited. The houses all had rotting paint peeling off to blow away on the winds and litter the roads with scratchings of white and black. The yellow lines on the road had moulded into a grey green and were polka dotted with second hand gum and bird droppings. There was barely any trace of grass and even if there was it was grooved by several foot paths, leaving only tear drops of vegetation in swirling patterns of mud. And last but not least, it was typically cold and rainy. The windscreen wipers thumped each time they hit the bonnet and only allowed me two seconds to see the road before being drowned and distorted once more.

"I'm calling Hikari. I think you got us lost."

"_I_ didn't get us lost. The satnav, the street signs and the weather all got us lost." I pulled over while Takeru held the ringing mobile to his ear. I could tell she had answered when Takeru had begun his broken conversation.

"Hikair?...Yeah, hey… My brother got us lost I think…No…I don't think so…next to the post office or something…yeah…next to that big red house?...'kay…see you in a minute…bye." He clicked the button on the phone and struggled to put it back into the sealed pocket of his tight jeans.

"She says that we're really close. Just turn left at the top and her house is at the end of that road." I didn't answer and just put the car back into gear. I think I was probably more nervous than Takeru was. I've never been as socially comfortable as him, so I'd most likely seem like the strange chaperone that just sits there.

As we came up to the house I could see a group of people hiding under coats in the rain, signalling us to pull into their driveway. One of them was familiar to Takeru, most likely his pen pal. She was a tiny thing with a brown bob from what I could see through the rain.

As soon as I'd turned off the engine Takeru had jumped out of the car eagerly to greet her and she ushered him inside with the others following. I'd decided to leave our bags for the moment before tightening my scarf and following as well.

Their house wasn't the most expensive looking one in the neighbourhood but it was a lot better than the worst. Three stories, a good paint job and a little hood over the porch where everyone was gathered. The group all lowered their hoods so that I could see each of them, and what a peculiar bunch they were. From what I'd deduced Hikari was the smallest of the group and just as sweet as Takeru had described her. Her mousy brown hair had a dusty tint to it and was styled in a short bob, pinned back with an assortment of colourful clips and pins, none matching the colours of her clothes.

There were two others standing next to her that caught my eye the most. The first was man about my age, early twenties with similar facial features to Hikari and most probably the older brother I was told about. His amusing hairstyle looked as if he had been inspired by a starfish or explosion. Chocolate spikes were splayed in all directions possible in the scientific world and thick with mess. He stood a good few inches taller than me and had his arm around the next figure that'd caught my eye; a smaller red haired woman. She was quite a beauty and obviously the girlfriend of the man whose arm was around her waist.

"Takeru! It's so good to finally meet you." Takeru went scarlet as she approached to give him a small hug that he more than gratefully returned. He replied with a humorously broken voice as he pulled away.

"Y-yeah, you too Hikari. This is Yamato my older brother." He looked at me in order to avoid eye contact with her and reveal the tinge on his cheeks. She turned to me with a small greeting and shook my hand with a smile.

"This is Taichi, my older brother, and his girlfriend Sora." Sora, the ginger, shook hands animatedly with me first strange enough before turning to Takeru. All the while I felt the gaze of Hikari's brother. I turned to him next expecting his hand to be held out for me to shake or ant least some gesture of greeting. I found that he was literally just staring at me, not even in a discrete manner. Everyone present noticed as well when I flinched under his uncomfortable analysing. His girlfriend was nudging his side, whispering to him something I couldn't hear, and Hikari was just laughing with a nervous edge.

He didn't abandon whatever he was trying to do and my eyes met his during his analysis of my face. His eyes were a dark, rich, chocolate brown that looked sickly sweet. There were speckles of gold in his iris that I also managed to notice, like dollops of syrup on a cake that I wanted to indulge in. By the way he looked at me he must have found something interesting in my eyes as well. His eyes twitched as he continued to observe me but we were broken apart by his sister.

"Well, what are we still doing out here? Let's go in." Takeru and her dashed into the house together instantly latching onto each other like they'd been friends all of their life. Sora also swayed her way into the house leaving her lover to find whatever it was he expected to find in my face.

I grew sick of it when he didn't make a move to stop so I defiantly turned away to follow the rest. I felt a warmth rest on my arm and turned around to see that he had a hold of me. I'd never been in a situation like this before. I didn't know what to do. Was it usual? Was it a custom in Odaiba? What did he expect me to do?

We met eyes again as I turned around inquisitively but this time he held out his hand to me.

"I'm Taichi." He whispered in a low and succulent voice that sent a shiver through the back of my thighs. I placed my hand slowly into his and strong fingers held it firmly in warmth.

"Yamato." I whispered back, sensing a quiver in my voice. This was new to me. Where had that voice come from? This Taichi person certainly would be an interesting character. He held my hand firmly as the corner of his mouth twitched into a sly smirk.

Was that a look of challenge?

--

4.o4 am, I have been studying for more than twelve different exams, each alot of work. The ending was typed while I was unconscious. Not enough reviews I will discontinue blah.


	3. Chapter 3

I hate the feeling walk into a nice clean house after being in the rain, especially in a cramped corridor such as the one of the house I had just entered. My hair was knotted and moist, dripping torturously down the back of my shirt creating a trail of Goosebumps in its wake. My shirt was damp and awkwardly ruffled as well were my trousers. I was so concerned that I would ruin their cream carpet that I was trying to collect every droplet before it fell while the others were showering it everywhere.

Takeru was instantly settling in, dumping wet items of clothing on the floor as if he'd been living with them forever. With a summery glow coming from the wall lights I could see the faces of everyone without the distortion of water and straggly hair. I felt like the wall flower among them, including Takeru who was obviously attractive, and that isn't just my biased opinion.

I was too self conscious to pull my hair away from my face to give them a proper view. I could just picture what a mess I looked without my obsessively perfect hair style. With just a single hair out of place I could feel like the most disgusting human in the room.

Hikari and Takeru seemed to be getting cosy quite quickly, I feared for the poor girl. Takeru obviously _was_ using the terrible weather to his advantage from what I could see as he shook himself of rain, pretending to have gotten some on her top and insisted on wiping it off and earning himself a feel of her chest. Not that I would blame him for it, she was adorable.

What ever his name was, Tacho I think, was assisting his girlfriend in ridding her of her coat. Normally I'm not one to have a look at another man's woman but she was also quite a gorgeous individual. Though her fiery locks were dabbed with beaded droplets they were still lively and didn't cling to her face. Round and rosy cheeks rested as a pedestal for umber eyes. With a thick layer of clothing shed I could see her slender curves most women would die for. I was uncertain to think that she was almost too good for the man standing next to her. He looked a bit too 'rough and tumble' in comparison. Speaking of which, said person was still meeting eyes with me every moment or so and it wasn't just my cynical side that was chary about it.

After participating an awkward moment, being the only person in the room without a partner to laugh with, Hikari instantly seemed to take up the role as hostess and herded everyone into the living area. It seemed far too grandiose for a mere college student to be able to afford so I had instantly assumed that it was her parents' house or belonged to some married couple with pricey salaries.

The living area was strewn with lavish, suede furniture that complimented the beige and brown colour scheme. There were gleaming frames lining family photos of two children and two parents, a typical loving family. I didn't know if Hikari was aware that if we got the furniture wet then it would ruin the fabric because she was telling everyone to 'take a seat, wind down' etcetera.

Her, her brother and her brother's girlfriend all took a place without hesitation leaving my brother and I to huddle by the door. With only so much as a little smile she'd coaxed him into taking a seat as close to her as possible with only the hindrance of each other's skin. I eventually skulked behind him into the only available seat, the edge of the sofa next to her brother with his girlfriend the other side of him. He observed as I took up my usually rigid position, knees pressed together and one arm inactively placed on the arm with my hand dangling over the edge.

"Takeru, it's so good to finally meet you in person. You're shorter than I thought you were." She smiled innocently and patted his hand that was resting next to her thigh. Had she been wearing jeans his hand would have probably been resting on her knee, but Takeru had more tact than to do something like that while she was wearing a skirt. He had a glint in his eye as he returned her smile with a smirk.

"Yeah, well I could say the same to you considering you only come up to my nose." She batted him playfully and I dampened out the conversation from that point, it would probably have continued as flirtatious banter anyway. I just sat there soaking in the warmth of the family home, content to stay silent. That was until the individual next to me wanted to start a conversation.

"So, you're Takeru's brother." He still had an arm encompassing his woman as he spoke, only slightly turning his head to look at me. Without the drowning noise of thudding water I could hear his voice properly, and though deep and masculine as it was it wasn't as enticing as when I'd heard it outdoors. With his head higher than mine I couldn't tell whether he was purposefully looking down his nose at me or not. I just nodded with an expression of coldness and he turned to look at his sister.

"Hikari and him are getting close very quickly." I looked at the younger two as well, seeing what he'd meant.

"Yeah, I suppose." I stammered in a croaky voice, he scoffed and tilted his head slightly.

"You better make sure he keeps his hands to himself." I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be some sort of humorous remark but quickly turning to look at him he was once again looking down at me. The ginger next to him nudged his ribs.

"Taichi, don't be so rude. He only just got here and you're already scaring him." I could already tell that the duration of this trip would be spent playing the role of fifth wheel or social outcast. I was being pitied like a child. She smiled at me in an almost guilty manner.

"Sorry about him. He's just so possessive over his little angel."

"I'm not possessive. I have a right to be suspicious of this guy I've never met suddenly wandering into my house and feeling up my little sister." He interrupted sternly but didn't speak so loud as to disturb the conversing going on opposite him between our younger siblings. I hated to have to accept that that was his opinion on Takeru, but thinking that I would be stuck in Odaiba for five weeks having to deal with it I tried to be polite as possible.

"You don't have to worry. Takeru isn't like that." I tried to smile but if it looked as strange as it felt on my face then I would have probably been wearing a grimace.

"Well sorry if I don't want to take your biased opinion as my own. I don't know you either." He didn't even look at me. At least I preferred that to him looking at me so intensely. In fact, his personality had changed almost completely so suddenly from something suggestive, constantly staring at me, to seeming so aloof and looking everywhere but in my eyes.

"Well then it's a good thing you have the next couple of weeks to do just that." She sounded more like his mother than girlfriend, scolding him and pointing her manicured fingers. I edged even further into the arm of the sofa, already noticing the water stains I would most likely find when I stood up.

"So you're the famous Yamato Takeru has told me so much about." I looked away from the patches of moisture to see nearly everyone looking at me after Hikari had spoken. I had intended to say 'yes, I am, I hope he's told you nothing but nice things' sounding just a bit suave but all that seemed to dribble from my lips was

"err…" They chuckled in scarily perfect unison and I could feel the creases form on my brow as I twisted my features in distaste.

"You look terrified. Don't worry, we're all friendly." I couldn't recall some people's behaviour being as much friendly as appose to discourteous. I gave an unnoticeable nod with a nervous twitch to my smirk as I was continuously stared down even by Takeru. This was precisely the reason I had preferred work than to come to Odaiba, but there was nothing I could do about it since I had already made my choice to go.

"Hikari, weren't you gonna go make some tea for the newcomers?"

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot. Thanks for reminding me Taichi." So _that _was his name. At least I wasn't too far off. When Hikari stood up Takeru almost fell sideways without her shoulder to lean against, probably still exhausted from the drive.

"You take three sugars, right?" She spoke to him and even with a weary expression his eyes lit instantly with a new smile.

"Yeah, you remembered." He laughed and a tide of pink washed across her cheeks.

"Yamato, how do you take your tea?"

"Oh, I don't drink tea."

"Coffee?"

"I'm fine, really." She seemed just as giddy even though I'd refused her offer and, unlike the mistakes most hostesses make, gladly didn't pester me any further and retreated down another corridor. Takeru looked a lot more tense after she'd left and Taichi had now averted his accusing orbs towards him, I didn't know how to defend him except for avert the attention of the animistic beast to myself once more.

"So-"

"You-"

Of course I would create an uncomfortable silence by starting a sentence just as he was about to start one aimed at Takeru. It's my skill to be able to make a room go silent, but not particularly in a positive way. It is normally involuntary and at the worst possible times. Take the situation at the moment as an example.

Tacho didn't look at all amused or even pitied that I was trying and failing to be social. I could hear bone upon bone as he sanded down his bottom teeth with his top. I could tell that Takeru and ginger girl heard it as well when they looked at me as if I could calm him down.

Normally in a situation like this, being a guest in an unknown home, I would have jus said "Please finish your sentence, I wasn't going to say anything important." And we would laugh it off like friends even though my conscience would be screaming at me to slam his face into a thick carpet of nails and overall jagged objects. It would just be to make a good impression and give Takeru a slightly more positive chance of getting to know Hikari better. My pride would be scarred but it isn't uncommon for me.

But on the other hand doing that would be allowing him to intimidate my sibling, something I won't stand for, as well as give him the idea that he has control over me. That isn't like me at all.

Another choice that would be my personal favourite would to challenge him as he was me. Not enough to start something violent, just to piss him off that little bit and show him that he can't mess with my family. But it was a risk that I would be kicked out or as a result if he were to hold a grudge then Takeru wouldn't get his chance to-

"I've got drinks and snacks." It was a good thing that Hikari's entrance prevented me from having to choose. Whatever decision I would have made it would have been the wrong one anyway.

With her glistening locks sway about her shoulders as she strode she placed a tray of mugs and a plate of some kind of biscuits on the coffee table in the centre of the room. It was a table similar to my own only slightly more decorative and I felt uncomfortable that they had placed it too close to the sofa that I could barely move my legs.

When everyone had taken their beverage I then realised that she had sweet enough to still consider me and had poured me a mug of water. When I looked up to her she was smiling as if to explain herself and I returned it with more than gratitude. I could also see that Takeru was already developing a sort of possessiveness over her by the warning look he gave me. It wasn't that he expected me to take her from him or anything, he just wanted to make sure that she thought that he was the "coolest" one in the room, or some form of modern slang meaning something in that region. I'm not very up to date with my social skills as you can tell. It seems that I've been a grouchy elderly at heart my whole life.

I took the mug and rested it on my lap silently since the conversation had yet to get back into rhythm.

"So how did you meet? Through some kind of 'pen pal organisation'?" Sora laughed as she tried to push Tachi back into his seat from his tense position that mimicked mine almost exactly.

"Not exactly. We're actually more internet pals if anything. I kept getting connections through my friends and eventually ended up with his MSN etcetera. We've been "webcaming" so to say for quite a while."

"Internet? Don't you know how dangerous that is Hika? He could've been some thirty year old stalker for all you know." I could definitely see that his 'possessive elder sibling' complex, though similar to my own, could be considered slightly more severe.

"We were connected through a few friends of friends so there was reassurance, and we used webcam to make sure that the other really was who they said they were. It wasn't as though we were-"

"Right, right, right. Nothing but excuses." Hikari fell quiet after her sibling's comment.

We spent a lot of time in that living room, simply getting to know each other slightly better and get accustomed to the new arrangements for the next five weeks or so. Takeru and I would be lodging in the spare room on the first floor. It had been so long since I'd slept under the same roof as him let alone the same room, I couldn't remember his sleeping face. But the rediscovery would have to wait until the evening with still a few hours of light left of the day.

--

I had come to the conclusion at some point during the day that bar the attitude of the elder child, I should have a relatively pleasant stay in Odaiba. Even if I knew absolutely no one and stuck out like a dark bruise on society. Odaiba was very traditional and Japanese, very little variety in culture. So Takeru and I arriving with blue eyes, blonde hair and slightly different accents it was more than predictable that we would turn a few heads. Little did I know when we left for some nourishment that my perception of a few heads would in fact be every person within a mile radius of our group.

It was still raining and I had to survive without the assistance of my water proof that I had given up trying to free from the bottom of my suitcase. The Yagami family was revealed to have a strong belief in both saving energy and getting exercise when it was available, so we walked to the central square of Odaiba to eat at a chain fast food restaurant. Not exactly a favouring meal for my palette but I wouldn't complain so long as I could get some well needed energy.

Our final destination was in front of a cheap mimic of a restaurant that might have been bearable. We were seated in a brightly coloured stall as Taichi went to the counter to order. During his absence Sora scooted closer to me, taking the position that he was in at first. If the guy hated us so much why was it that he seemed to take every possible opportunity to invade my personal space; scooting closer to me on the sofa, walking next to me and practically nudging me into the road with his shoulder against mine, and when we'd first sat down he'd actually pushed Takeru out of the way in order to sit next to me. Was he trying to intimidate me or just really liked the way I smelt? Whatever the reason it was pissing me off rather early into the visit.

"I'm sorry Taichi's being a bit of a bastard. He's probably just threatened by Takeru being a bit close to Hikari, but I've never known him to be like this. I don't know if it's just because you're his brother but whatever the reason, I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I think I've met people with worse attitudes than him." I smile politely. There's a sudden bang on the table and everybody looks to see Taichi slamming the tray of food down. He was looking directly at me with unblinking orbs and I was almost afraid of him, almost. My masculinity wouldn't allow me to be properly afraid.

"Flirting with my woman, newbie?" Another hit from him that I can't decipher whether is out of good humour or not. I would never grant him the satisfaction of seeing me flustered or angry, so I merely shrugged and looked away. Sora didn't seem to understand what I was trying to do and instead gets a bit defensive.

"What? Taichi what are you talking about? He wasn't flirting with me, we were just talking!" She waved her hands frantically to emphasise her panic and all he does is shift an eyebrow as he stares at her.

"Please move, Sora. You're in my seat." Surprise surprise, he would even make his girlfriend move in order to sit next to me. She also seemed a tad confused by his request but moved none the less so not to anger him any further. Meanwhile Hikari and Takeru are watching silently and trying to figure out exactly what was occurring between the three of us.

"Uh, dig in everyone." Hikari smiled and shared out the meals and drinks from the tray and everyone started to eat. To be more precise the beast sitting next to me was devouring the grease soaked sandwich of meat upon more meat with a look of hunger matching a starved wild animal. With him being so close to me my own food was receiving a shower of ketchup and saliva degrading it from unappetizing to repulsive. I picked at the chips, being the only edible looking part of what was wrapped in paper, and even then I didn't eat much of it.

"Nii-chan, are you done already? You haven't even touched your burger."

"It's fine. I think I'm still a bit travel sick after that long drive." I could tell that Taichi had turned to face me when I heard the racket of violent chewing getting louder in my left ear.

"Don't you wanna build up from that lady's body you have, newbie?" He'd been calling me newbie all day. What exactly would I have been a newbie in terms of? Was it because I didn't come from their town? It shouldn't have been insulting because I didn't understand what he meant, but still, the spiteful way in which he used the name every time he insulted me was quickly breaking through my mounds of patience. My sensitivity towards my feminine apperance was a very sensitive subject for him to touch on, so he'd already managed to get me to the brink in just a few hours.

"That's quite funny." I managed to keep a calm voice and bit down on my straw to stop myself from plucking one of the insults I'd come up with in just seconds and throwing it right back in his smug face.

"What else were you gonna say?" He finished his mouthful and leant his head on his hand. The rest of the table had become silent once more and I was frustrated that although Sora kept apologising about Taichi she wasn't doing much to try and put him in the right. Did the bastard want me to confess that he repulsed me?

I just quietly muttered that I wasn't going to say anything and he gave up on pushing me after satisfying himself with a long death glare.

It seemed I was incorrect about Odaiba. It wasn't constantly raining. Upon leaving the restaurant I found that moist fog had substituted rain, so we were able to walk instead of run. Takeru and Hikari talked quietly at the front of the gaggle and lead the way. From the beginning I had intended on walking at the rear of our crowd and Taichi would converse with his girlfriend in front of me. But similar to our journey to the restaurant Taichi had chosen to push up against my side and have one arm hooked around Sora on the other side of him.

It was only at the house that he'd been staring at me shamelessly but he still seemed to be going out of his way to touch me and shoot me an insult whenever it managed to link with the conversation we were having. For example Takeru would say "Has anybody seen the movie 'insert movie here'?" and Taichi would reply with "Yeah I have. Does anyone agree that 'insert name of pathetic/female character' reminds me of Yamato?" He would laugh and everyone else in the room would look confused.

Continuing with what I was saying, we arrived back at the household in the evening, coming up to about nine or ten o'clock as an estimate, and I was astounded that a day of doing nothing but driving and sitting could have worn me out to such an extent. It was hard to stand and every time I blinked I had to work up a strong will power in order to open my eyes again. I almost, dare I say, leant on Taichi when I was at my weakest. I shuddered to think that I'd almost touched him with the bare flesh of my cheek. I hadn't been as repulsed before because of the many layers of clothing there was between our two shoulders, but my cheeks were exposed.

Takeru was feeling almost as tired as me which was swiftly noticed by the little hostess who allowed tonight to be an early night for the two of us. But rest was postponed when we realised that we had yet to bring in our luggage from the car. If Takeru had only allowed me to bring one suitcase then I would have saved so much work for myself and him.

Bringing in the bags became a group activity and I tried my hardest with my will power being my only supply of energy; that and my determination to keep Taichi from commenting on how weak I was or something along those lines. But it didn't stop him from commenting on the crappiness of our car. It was funny to have Takeru confront him and say

"Actually Taichi, it's _my_ car." He wasn't suave about it, being Takeru and his tendency to be...how should I phrase it? Bluntly, not classy at all, he's always had the inability to play nonchalance. But it was what he said that counts and the way he said it didn't particularly matter.

"Sorry, little guy. Didn't mean to insult your ride." He laughed and ruffled Takeru's hair. By this time my fatigued state was even more confused. Being the protective older brother Taichi should have supposedly despised Takeru, or at least been suspicious. That had been evident during the first part of the evening. But he seemed now to have befriended what was supposedly the threat in the first place but was continuously firing shit at me and I didn't have anything to do with anything.

And if that didn't riddle my tired mind enough, while I was struggling to carry one of my larger cases he came and took it from me with what I could only assume was the intention to actually help me. Either that or he was sick of watching such a pathetic excuse for a human dirty the male name by not being able to lift a heavy thing.

So speeding things along and not boring you with how interesting it was hauling luggage, we'd finally brought it all into the spare room on the first floor. It was just as charming as the rest of the house and its size was equivalent to the bigger half of my apartment. A cosy colour scheme and design as well, which strangely enough should make a guest feel like they were at home when to me it felt like I was just at a nice hotel. Perhaps it was their overuse of wooden furbishing.

Sora left with a wave for my brother and I, a hug for Hikari and an intimate kiss between her and her boyfriend. It was then that Hikari made a short noticed decision to have a pyjama party with us two pairs of siblings to "get better acquainted". I couldn't help but feel that that was some kind of code for "get to know Takeru better and hope to God that time alone will help the two elders settle their differences", although my assumptions are never really accurate.

"Come on Yamato. It's our first night here, we have to celebrate someway. You could always catch up on sleep tomorrow."

Takeru gave me the puppy eyes, tugging on my sleeve and tried to coax me to partake in a sleepless night just for his sake. Feeling quite confident I was almost positive that I could survive one night without sleep as the other three decided on a film out of their collection. However the signs of an oncoming coma didn't support the pros of staying up as my vision swayed, my dry eyes stung and my limbs ached to move.

Since the "accident" it wasn't strange to find myself unable to bear long hours awake, unlike before when I would get maximum of three or four hours of sleep. It was probably a joint after affect of my body trying to heal itself as well as the painkillers I was subscribed. So that meant that my estimation of how long I could last being awake was very far from the result.

Takeru waved a DVD in my face that I had apparently told him I liked which I was far too distracted to recall and bounded off with his new chum to put it in the DVD player. I practically levitated towards the sofa and took my rigid position against the arm only consuming half the space of the cushion I was seated on. The other half was quickly filled by Taichi's figure only seconds after I had sat down, although this time instead of taking a detailed note of it and getting suspicious of his behaviour I just pushed it to the back of my mind and concentrated on keeping conscious.

The other two squashed together in what little space was left on the sofa which only pushed Taichi's shoulder further into mine, I could feel heat radiating off of him and regrettably putting me into an even more relaxed state and coaxing me close my eyes. But I was resistant as per usual.

I probably looked like I was a victim of the family as I sat stoically and the other three lounged in their seat. Hikari was putting her legs over Takeru's lap, probably thinking it was innocent but oblivious to how Takeru took it as flirting, and Taichi put his arm across the back of my part of the sofa. That only gave me the will power not to slouch in knowing that I'd bump into his arm if I were to lean back.

After a wile of staring vacantly at the flashing images did I actually realise what film we were watching. 'A Scanner Darkly'. I remembered seeing the billboard that had been interesting enough to catch my attention on the bus. I only really wanted to see it because I wanted Takeru to go with me and it was the only film available that looked like I could tolerate for two hours. I'm not into television all that much, hence why I no longer own one.

Even though I wasn't actually watching the film I still found the whispers between Takeru and Hikari highly irritating and Taichi continually asked questions about the plot that no one bothered to answer. It was his own fault that he was either stupid or wasn't listening to the film. But the twittering noises were unthankfully still soft enough to allow me to fall asleep.

The last thing I remember of the film was that they were in some office with flashing images and then I think I just collapsed onto Taichi's arm. As disgusted as I might have been by physical contact with him I was far too exhausted to worry about it.

--

It was typical that even when away from home I had that same dream of bloodied hands and silence. It was all exactly the same. The empty apartment, the book on the coffee table, the brown sofa, the noises from the kitchenette and the sense of moisture coating my body when I awoke with either sweat or blood. But I remained calm when I was woken up by Takeru an hour or so later. He was trying so very hard to contain his laughter.

"Hey, sleepy head. Sorry for keeping you up. Wanna go to bed?" He was being motherly to me, patting my shoulder as I wiped the slumber from my eyes. After them being closed for so long the room seemed to have a grey wash to it and he was pale enough to pass for some sort of spectre.

I nodded absently shutting my eyes once more for a moment and felt his hand on my arm pull me to stand.

"What's the time?" I mumbled as I recovered from a momentous rush of blood to my brain.

"It's coming up to midnight I think. But apparently their clock's wrong, so I'm not so sure." I could hear that Takeru was kind of tired as well, his voice more defeated than usual. Through blurred vision I followed the path of wall lights that lit the corridor to the spare room and Takeru's touch gentle herding me.

We both went to our separate suitcases upon entry to prepare for bed; grooming and such could wait until morning when I had time to be taught how to use their shower. There was only one large bed in the room the broke the borders of 'king sized' closing in on more appropriately 'God sized' for us to share. It would be just like old times when we had still lived together. During the turmoil of the oncoming divorce Takeru would often climb into my bed with wet cheeks and huddle into the crook of my neck. Not that he would do the same while we were here.

"Do you regret coming here?" Takeru's voice came from behind me and I kept my back turned to him as I proceeded to change, not stopping my routine to talk.

"Not really. A break is a break."

"Yeah, I didn't think that Taichi would have some kind of grudge against you. If anything I thought he'd hate me the most and I could use you as protection." He laughed as he voiced my exact sentiments.

"He's a bit weird." I turned around after straightening my baggy shirt and made my way towards the bed. "He's been looking at me strangely since we got here."

"Yeah, I noticed that too." Takeru sat on the bed next to me, stifling a yawn as he continued.

"While you were asleep he seemed more interested in looking at you than he was at watching the film."

"Well, then he's obviously got some weird distaste for me. I don't even know what I did." Takeru didn't answer me straight away. He just got under the covers silently looking as though he was concentrating on a particular thought.

"He does say some really nasty things. But sometimes when I saw him looking at you, it didn't look like the kind of stare you gave to someone you hate. You get me?" I didn't really 'get him' but I nodded and joined him in the bed.

I could feel the springs poking lumps into the mattress, the duvet was so thick that it was more like being covered by a blanket of bricks and even with the lights out there was just a string of white from under the door that I couldn't draw my attention away from, and even with all of these distractions I fell asleep swiftly. Takeru was snuggled against my hip with his head bowed next to my shoulder, a few golden locks brushing across my bandaged collarbone. Takeru's presence next to me brought me far more comfort than any beautiful female. And since I'd already had the dream once that night it left me for the rest of the darkness to close my eyes to blissful nothing until the sunrise.

--

Apparently the Yagami family were morning people, very much unlike the Ishida family. At ten o'clock in the morning I was awoken by a flashing light accompanied by a clicking noise that was followed by sudden movements by Takeru beside me, a jolt of the bed with shouting close ensued and padding feet getting louder and softer as they ran around and out of the room.

I was tangled comfortably in the thick covers and unwilling to shift until it was absolutely necessary. The door was wide open after the two 'kids' had their chase and I could hear it continuing around the home.

"Nii-chan, get up! We're making breakfast." Well at least it had been nice to lie in for a few minutes, if even that.

I stumbled out as clueless and unaware as a newborn from the womb of the blanket and mattress. I could smell burning remains of what I guessed to be pancakes wafting through the open door of the guest room and felt my stomach drop. I questioned whether I would ever get a reasonable meal on this trip if my options were either badly cooked or floating in grease.

Since Takeru was able to get away with dining in his pyjamas I deducted that it wouldn't be too offensive if I were to do the same. Besides, my nightwear covered even more flesh than his; he was clad in night shorts and a t-shirt while I was covered by full length tartan pyjama trousers and a shirt so large that it could pass for a slutty man dress.

Proceeding to drag one leg after the other towards the smell of charcoal and sugar I came to their dining room. An actual dining room, and not just a little corner for them to eat in. I'd designed quite a few in my lifetime but rarely had the opportunity to use one for its purpose of dining in. I'd lived in an apartment for nearly all of my life so this was quite a new sensation for me.

There was a long and varnished table complete with wooden shaping carved into it and was probably most used for dinner parties. Takeru and Hikari were seated at the far end with their chairs as close together as possible without them being fused together and giggling animatedly about something or other.

I sat across from Takeru, thinking that it would seem too clingy to sit next to him while he was talking to his friend and I didn't want to disturb him. I may have APD but I know the basic rules of socialism.

"Breakfast is served." Taichi walked backwards through the door carrying what looked like four beautifully presented plates of ash on fine china. The three of us that were seated all shared the same look and I regretted understanding the message Hikari sent me with her eyes. 'Stomach it just to keep his feelings unharmed'.

As he placed the tray on the table I wasn't surprised to find his eyes on me within the second. But this time he wasn't just staring at my face. He seemed to scan over what parts of my body he could see that weren't visually obstructed by the table. Out of a whim of self consciousness I pulled at my baggy shirt to cover myself a bit more and saw that some of my collar bandages were peeping over the neckline.

"What's with the first aid?" he asked as he took the seat next to me without hesitation.

"Oh, uh. Car accident." I mumbled as I used my fork to shovel the crisp, black substance on my plate.

"What kind of accident? What happened?" The temperature suddenly rose according to my standards and though I kept my eyes on the patterns of the china I heard and felt Takeru's attention draw away from Hikari and onto me.

"I was...I just crossed the road at the wrong time." To stop myself from saying anymore I took a bite of the 'pancake'. It was like chewing on the lead of a pencil but covered in lemon juice and sugar.

"What was with the stutter?" Taichi scooted closer to me on his chair. It seemed he was the type of person who would ask endless questions. A clueless idiot who wouldn't know when to just drop a topic.

I didn't answer verbally. I just shrugged and took a big gulp of the glass of orange juice next to me and thanked my luck that Taichi hadn't burnt it somehow.

"Tell me what you're thinking." I turned to him incredulously as he stared into me with his large, oaky irises.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I can tell that you were thinking of something. I noticed it yesterday too; you seem to keep your insults to yourself. Your eyes give you away." I wanted to just turn away, but it seemed impossible. It was his eyes again, and his voice. He was insulting me, pushing all of the right buttons that got me wanting him to hurt; but everything about him continued to pull me in. I cleared my throat and tried to hide my scowl and embarrassment.

"Perhaps I just understand that there are some things you should say, and some you shouldn't."

"Yeah, I get that. But you just don't say anything. Go on and say something. Tell me off." Masochist! I couldn't read into what he was saying I was filled with such spontaneous hatred. It felt as though I was bending the fork my grip was so tight. I used what telepathic powers I hoped I had to tell him to knock it off or I really would say something I'd regret.

"Fine. Do what you want." He took his first bite of the burnt pancake and spat it out seconds after. I cringed at the sight of the saliva soaked wad left on his plate and as he wiped away the remains of the mouthful from his chin.

"Why are you guys eating these? They're disgusting." He laughed and looked at the two across from us who had gone silent. Hikari's laugh looked faulty when she answered and Takeru looked awkward in his seat. He looked at me and tried to signal something I couldn't translate. It was probably just another apology for bringing me.

I couldn't bear sitting next to him any longer and mumbled something about going to get dressed.

"Leave your plate, Yamato. I'll clean them up in a minute." Hikari smiled and I put it back down on the table. That was until Taichi leant forward in his seat.

"Hikari, don't be soft on him. If he wants to earn his keep then he can clean up."

"Earn his keep? Taichi, Takeru and Yamato are our guests. They shouldn't have to do anything except feel welcome." He huffed and forgetting how terrible his breakfast was took another forkful. But this time I quite enjoyed watching him choke and spit it out.

----

Sorry about this chapter. It's just a filler to buy me some time to update. I'm having some troubles at the moment so I'll probably have the next bit up early january. It's all set up and what not but I just need to add details

happy x-mas/new year

don't be put off by this chap. It is seriously boring. Even I couldn't read through the whole thing to proof read it. It's basically just setting up the fact that Taichi is being a bit of a prick. But romance will ensue very soon. not next chap but the chap after there is a good lemon. I have the basics so I know that it will be good ;)


	4. Chapter 4

"Aren't you gonna wear one of your nice new outfits?"

Takeru came back into the room after a little while to see me fishing out my old jeans from an overflowing suitcase of waste.

"Fat chance. The clothes you picked out are far too tight for my taste."

It was quite true. My casual attire was figure hiding and allowed free flowing movement, but apparently, according to Takeru, I have the body of someone who should be wearing spandex. I won't be misleading and say that the clothes were as skin tight as spandex but the jeans were too snug for the liking of any dignified, 25 year old man.

"That's because it looks like you're wearing blankets your clothes are so loose. Don't you want to look good?"

"Who would I be trying to impress? Taichi?"

He shrugged, probably understanding what I meant. He crossed the room towards the window and pulled back the curtain, letting in a stream of bluish light from the cloud covered firmament over the town of Odaiba.

"It isn't raining today, so Hikari suggested that we have a tour of the town. What d'ya say?"

He gave me a smile as he turned round and I returned it as a folded up my now crinkled jeans beside me. I was just about to reach into the case for the rest of my clothing when Takeru came beside me.

"I'm not going to make you wear the jeans, but can you at least wear a new shirt? Add some colour to your clothes."

I waved him off but agreed to his terms. Some of the shirts looked reasonable enough, but with some of the others I would have to sacrifice a lot of self respect in order to wear them.

So, skipping ahead, after learning how to use the shower I groomed myself and got ready. Not a particularly exciting event to add to an autobiography. Although, when I exited the bathroom Taichi seemed to be standing right outside the door. I'd thought at first that he may have just been waiting for his turn to use the shower, but when I walked away so did he. He seemed a bit perplexed at how I looked after I emerged, still a bit damp and running a towel through my hair, but I didn't know why my appearance would cause such a bashful expression from him.

I'd expected a tour of Odaiba to be relatively short. The most exciting thing about the town I remembered being was the Water Museum. But I was apparently mistaken according to the huge bags of supplies that the Yagamis had decided to bring.

We went to the giant sky wheel, the town centre, the TV station, and for the entire time I'd had Taichi grafted to my hip and the other two tittering nonstop ahead of us.

Another aspect of Odaiba that I had forgotten to mention was that it was _very_ traditional. Very few tourists visited and nearly the entire population were traditional and full Japanese. This meant that Takeru and I, being blonde, pale skinned and blue eyed, stood out like a big, purple bruise in their community. Every man, woman or child within a thirty foot radius had no attention spared for anything other than our small group. I was just fit to explode with some kind of negative and indescribable emotion that would destroy everything around me if released.

I wasn't really concentrating on my surroundings until I found that we had entered a field of some sort. It was the college sports grounds, spreading what seemed like a mile in length with chalked grass.

"This is where Taichi and his team have soccer matches and stuff. They're really good. Almost as good as the pros."

Hikari laughed and hauled the bag of supplies further onto her shoulder.

"What do you mean _almost_?"

I think that phrase was the first thing Taichi had said all day. He'd been nothing but silent during the entire tour, not counting the noises he made while ripping apart the doughnuts we'd bought.

Being in such a large and open space made me feel uncomfortable. I'd been mildly agoraphobic since childhood and made little improvement on my tolerance of empty space. I had an irrational fear of being trapped in such a place and being left out in the open with no form of protection or escape. With such a large area it would be impossible for me to detect any small movement from an offender and I would be struck down dead before realising anything had happened. The feeling could familiar to being naked and exposed in an unfamiliar place.

My Father was the only one who knew of my fear, and when he died I lost any form of protection from my unseen and unknown enemies.

As a child he took me to a stadium for one of his job assignments and had assumed that I would be thrilled by the experience. However, as soon as we stepped upon the lush terrain of the centre field he found me holding his thigh in a chokehold and my face hidden under his jacket. He found this bizarre, considering I was well past the age where I thought that hugs and kisses from Daddy were for babies. He tried to pry me off in order to get to work but as we came further and further into the centre and the most vulnerable part of the stadium I was already sobbing hysterically into his hip and begging to leave. At the start of my panic attack he rushed me back to the car.

From the centre of the field I felt so open to the elements. The bleachers and surrounding benches were all facing in the direction of our group, all of them empty, as though thousands of ghosts were taking audience to our visit. We sat in the centre, thanks to my misfortune, and I was on edge more than I had been in quite a while. I was mature enough not to terrify myself into a state by overly thinking about it, so I gritted my teeth and edged just a little bit closer to Takeru for some kind of security.

The bag that the youngest Yagami had been carrying was emptied of mountains of tupperware filled with homemade food. There were almost enough of the plastic boxes to build a miniature fort of food-filled bricks. The majority of it looked rather edible, but there were a few boxes with burnt food crusted to the side which I could only assume had been prepared by Taichi.

The grass was still damp from the foggy dew that had occurred during the early hours of the morn and perhaps assisted by the remains of the rain early yesterday. So I exposed my bare arms to the frosty air when I relinquished my winter coat in order to prevent having to sit in the wet. In the process I realised that I was also revealing the new shirt that Takeru had insisted I wear. I couldn't help but feel even more exposed to the empty seats as it clung to my shoulders and outlined my torso tightly.

"Oh wow, Yamato. That's a really cool shirt."

Hikari announced as she traced the Warhol images and patterns on my chest with her eyes. Before I could reply Takeru came up next to me and slung his arm around my shoulders.

"Thanks, Hikari. I was the one that chose it out for him. Otherwise he'd probably be wearing rags."

He laughed in my ear as he proceeded to show off in front of her, trying to steer her full interest onto himself. What an attention whore.

We sat in some kind of pathetic circle with Takeru and Taichi sitting either side of me, Taichi sitting abnormally close and Takeru sitting further towards Hikari than me. The boxes were all emptied in front of us and, as if it were a sprint race, as soon as the lid came off Taichi had dived in, grabbing handful after handful when he discovered that chopsticks couldn't hold nearly enough to suffice as a mouthful.

Although it felt rather lonely not being able to converse with anyone, Takeru and Hikari being much more interested in each other and Taichi shovelling food into any space left in his mouth, I was actually grateful to have a bit of time to think. Mostly I just thought back to my encounter with Taichi during breakfast.

I hadn't really thought about the topic of my 'car accident' coming up until he'd noticed my bandages. After the pain was drugged away I'd thought of the experience as an unfamiliar dream, the only reminder being a few darkened patches of skin and a piercing ache that came with movement. I'd never spoken about it to anyone other than Takeru in the hospital and saying to my boss that I'd just been careless. It had never occurred to me that I might actually have to make up a valid excuse as to how or why I was hit. Since Takeru had been reminded there was now the lingering threat that he might bring it up again when in private.

A very high pitched laugh interrupted me as well as made me jump. I looked up to see Hikari stifling the rest of the laugh with a hand over her mouth and Takeru next to her smiling triumphantly. Whatever the reason for her bizarre expression of glee it had successfully scared me enough to not zone back into my numb state of mind. If I did I would be vulnerable to some sort of attack or startled by a loud noise.

Now that I was more aware of my surroundings I noticed that aside from the younger two's conversations the atmosphere seemed to be a lot emptier. Quieter. That's when I noticed the lack of movement, showing that Taichi had stopped eating. There was still some good food left in the boxes and I found it strange that they had been ignored.

What I saw was familiar but gave me an unnerving feeling none the less. He had his chopsticks held between his lips as though he had just finished a mouthful and his eyes were fixated on my chest. His expression seemed alien to me and I looked away quickly, feeling that I didn't want to become familiar with it. I still felt his gaze burn a hole through my clothes and I sensed not a single movement or noise from him other than his breathing.

I tried to overlook it, but I was so nervy about it that I was actually counting the seconds that passed as I tried to ignore it. The unsettling feeling of being in the exposed grounds probably fuelled my irritation and urged me to put a stop to his actions.

"Could you please stop staring at me?"

I turned to him and allowed him to see that I had realised what he was doing. But he didn't even stop to answer me. His umber gaze not only followed the patterns of the shirt, but sweeping across the tiniest of dips and curves of my torso.

"I'm not staring at you. I'm staring at your cool shirt."

"Well, would you please stop? You're making me uncomfortable."

As swiftly as I had said it he lowered the chopsticks from his mouth and met my gaze. I didn't realise that I was giving him a cold glare, but from his hardened expression he saw it clearly.

"Is there a law against me looking at you or something?"

Taichi came to his full height, all the while staying in his sitting position, in order to look threatening, I suppose. Although I did the same I'd barely made a difference in the huge gap between our heights; I was like a stick in the mud next to a mighty oak tree.

"No, there isn't necessarily a law. But as I said, you are making me uncomfortable."

"I've noticed that you don't like attention, especially people looking at you. Just like whe-"

"You seem to be noticing a lot about me recently."

"What's so wrong about that?"

I held my tongue in vain attempt to keep some of the remaining peace between us.

"Nothing, I suppose."

"There you go again! If you've got something to say then say it!"

He dropped the bowl in his hands and crossed his arms, as though he was expecting to suddenly come clean.

"Is this really appropriate? Do you actually want me to start a fight with you?"

"If getting into a fight will put a stop your stuck up, self righteous, 'holier-than-thou' attitude, then yes. I want to fight you."

I ignored him. Or at least, I tried my best to ignore him.

I sighed at his antics and tried to salvage what I could of our nice picnic. Takeru and Hikari hadn't necessarily noticed what was going on, so there was still a chance that I could avoid confrontation. But as soon as I picked up my chopsticks to resume eating Taichi knocked them out of my hand and onto the grass. This definitely caught the attention of our siblings.

"Taichi?"

Hikari questioned in an innocent, questioning voice. He didn't answer. And when I looked at him he stared directly into my eyes with an emotion that I couldn't decipher. It was the same expression as when I'd first looked at him. It made me freeze on the spot.

"Hit me."

He growled and pushed my shoulder in a way that made me face him fully.

"Taichi, what are you doing?"

Hikari interfered but Takeru held her back from acting physically. I didn't make a move to hit him and turned away.

"Stop messing around."

He nudged my shoulder again, but this time in a more brutal manner, almost pushing me onto my back.

"Come on. Don't be a pussy and fucking hit me!"

"No. What the hell is wrong with you?"

His actions angered me more and more to the point that I _really_ wanted to sucker punch him. But that would only satisfy him. So I made a movement to stand, but when I got to my feet he kicked the back of my legs and brought me to a kneeling position.

"Hit me! Pansy! Faggot! Gay boy!"

"Ugh...fuck you!"

My swing at him was pitiful even for someone as scrawny as myself. I struck his jaw with the flat of my fist and saw what little effect it had on him when his neck barely swung to the side from the miniscule force. The pathetic clout was affected by my rattled nerves combined with my common sense that tried to rein in my anger and pull back the punch at half swing.

It took him two seconds to recover. Then, with no restraint to soften the blow, he punched me with full force in the face to return the gesture. Seeing it coming I angled away so that he wouldn't hit me in the nose and received the impact on my right cheek. I could feel it throb as the force tipped me onto my side. He wasted no time in continuing the fight and, this time, neither did I.

While Hikari and Takeru circled us, clueless on how to break up our spat, I managed to deliver a few hits to his face and chest before he landed one particular attack on my collar bone. Whether it was dislocated or fractured I couldn't remember. The only thing I was preoccupied with was the immense pain of having the tender bone jostled in such a way. Takeru must have noticed that I didn't punch back and rushed to my rescue, wretched as it is for a grown man to be saved by his much younger brother.

"Taichi, back off! You hurt him!"

I didn't give up that easily despite the blanket of pain covering the top part of my torso. I aimed for that despicable mug of his once more, but he dodged and I knocked his Adam's apple clumsily. It still left him choking though. With his eyes squeezed shut and his wheezing fit still at full force I had the upper hand. With a heel to the stomach he tumbled off of me and I was blessed with the freedom of movement.

My new shirt was thoroughly soaked from rolling in the morning grass and uncomfortably stuck even more to my chest than it had before. My back was icy and moist from the cold water on the ground and my front was burning from the pain of my injuries.

Takeru was at my side quickly with his hands all over my chest to ease the pain. As much as he thought that he was assisting me he was actually just irritating my tender sores. So I continuously tried to wave him away and got to standing. Hikari was rubbing Taichi's back soothingly as he managed to catch his breath. I didn't stay to apologise and scooped up my coat quickly.

"Hey! Why are you walking away?! I'm not done with you!"

His attempt at shouting was feeble with how he was choking back coughs and croaks. Although my attempt at looking tough was similarly a spectacular failure with my hands rubbing at my sore collar and my legs slightly shaking under my weight. It was a relief to get away from him and to get out of the stupid, empty field. I felt like a large burden lifted from my shoulders as I stepped into the narrow path leading to the car park.

"Nii-chan! Hold up!"

Takeru was hurrying behind me at quite a speed before he actually caught up with me.

"Where do you plan on going anyway? We're staying at their house."

"You can stay there if you like, I'm not stopping you. But I'd much rather go home or stay at a hotel. That bastard is stubborn, unreasonable and holding a grudge for no reason against me. I won't tolerate his hostile behaviour."

"Oh please, Yamato. Don't do this! This was supposed to be a holiday for us, right? So can't you just ignore him?"

"Oh how I've tried."

"Nii-chan!"

Takeru put a firm grip on my shoulder to stop me from marching any further away from him. His expression was torn and I couldn't stop the guilt from surging through me. I couldn't bear to look at his face and opted to look down to the path we walked upon. A few feet away I encountered a bud of a Yarrow plant, lonesome on the grass. The flower seemed to send me bad luck every time I came across it.

Before we could say anything a cry from Hikari came over my shoulder.

"Takeru, Yamato. Taichi would like to say something."

I hadn't noticed that she had been dragging Taichi by his mess of hair until his whining voice was within earshot. She pushed him in front of her, like a mother would do to a misbehaving toddler, and crossed her arms in expectancy.

He didn't make eye contact and grumbled under his breath, neon pink ablaze across his cheeks with his freckles palpable like the seeds of a strawberry. Hikari kicked him in the back of the shins, making him stumble slightly even on such mighty legs.

"I'm sorry for being all bitchy at you. Your shoulder okay?"

I didn't answer for a moment, thinking whether I'd prefer to put the problem behind me or kick him in the balls and walk off. But with either decision I came to I would blatantly not carry out any more violence towards him.

"It's fine, just sore. Sorry for throwing the first punch."

"That's cool. It barely hurt me anyway."

It annoyed me that he didn't know that I was holding back. Normally I wouldn't care if he thought I was weak, but there was just something about Taichi that made me actually care about what he thought. It was embarrassing that I had to justify myself.

"I didn't intend it to escalate into something. I just did it to shut your mouth."

I mumbled and rubbed my shoulder once more.

"Point taken."

He sighed and there was silence between us as we both fumed like stroppy children. Hikari then placed a small hand on my shoulder and the other held her brother's.

"So are we okay now? No more fighting?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

We muttered in perfect unison.

"Good. Let's head home. Looks like it's going to rain."

And sure enough a few beads of water descended upon my brow as I looked to survey the skies. Carpets of grey were unrolling across the vast overhang of blue. I had yet to put on my coat and I was shuddering from a cold breeze that had very suddenly swept across us. It was also moist from the grass so it didn't protect me very much against the cold. But it was certainly better than nothing. So I pulled it on hesitantly and followed the others.

Since we ridiculously assumed that it would stay sunny for most of the day we hadn't taken a car, so we had to once again jog back to the Yagami estate through torrents of rain.

--

By the time we got there I was seriously fretting over Takeru's health and my own. It was in our genes to be overly susceptible to viruses and colds so I couldn't take any chances.

After stepping in the door I placed a hand on my brother's forehead and one on my own to see if either of ours was hotter than the other. I felt relatively fine other than being a bit cold and wet so I safely assumed that I hadn't caught a cold. Takeru's temperature was similar to my own so I presumed that he was the same. If he fell sick then I would be more than willing to take care of him. But if myself or both of us were sick then I wouldn't feel as comfortable in the Yagami home.

He moved my hand away after a moment or two, chuckling over my protective nature. After we all rid ourselves of wet clothes showered, and tended to whatever wounds that had been made, I returned to the guest room to receive clothes of my own. My bandages had also been soaked through so I brought out what little supply of first aid that I had in order to change them. Takeru came in just as I set to the task, struggling against the pain in my collar to reach my back.

"Do you want me to do that for you? Looks like you're having a bit of trouble."

I didn't want him to see the bruises on my body and covered up what parts of my form that I could with my shirt. I tried to reassure him that I was fine, but he seemed persistent on helping me in my rare time of vulnerability. So he sat next to me on the bed and pulled my clothes out of my hands to reveal my disgusting body.

"Oh, Nii-chan."

He whispered tenderly and took in the mottled prints of purple and blue spanning over my chest and stretching over the majority of my back. I could see the pity in his eyes.

"Don't just look at it. You're making me feel uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry, but, I have no idea how you manage to walk around with bruises like these. You should be in bed or something. Do they hurt?"

"Quite a bit. But I've been given a variety of painkillers and they help quite a lot."

I could tell that he didn't like the idea of me taking such heavy medication, but I was glad that he didn't say anything about it. Instead he silently rewrapped fresh bandages to cover my painted chest. His movements were slow after a few mistakes of pushing on a tender part of my flesh, but his touch was reassuring to me nonetheless.

We were both settled into the quiet atmosphere until we were both startled by a sudden, uninvited entry into the room.

"Dinner's ready if you guys want to eat."

Taichi had burst through the door with an indifferent expression, until he set eyes upon me. He knew about my bandaged chest but he'd never seen it, so it must have been a shock for him to see half my chest clothed in white and the other half patched with black. I covered up quickly using my shirt.

"Uh, we'll be out in a minute, Taichi. Could you leave us alone for a while?"

He froze for a moment with his eyes unremittingly darting between my face and my cloth covered chest before he finally nodded and closed the door. I hadn't realised that I'd been holding my breath until I let out a relieving sigh, releasing every ounce of air that had been caged in my lungs. I let the shirt drop from my hands and exposed myself once more to my little brother.

He didn't return to the chore right away. Instead, he carefully laid his hand over mine on the bed and rested his head on my shoulder.

"What happened in the accident, Nii-chan? Were you just careless?"

His voice was soft. Innocent. Just like a caring younger brother's should sound. But it made me nervous. It wasn't that he rarely used such a voice or that I have bad memories of it. But when he speaks in such away it acts as a starting flare that signals when I have to become 'the gallant brother that always says the right things to cheer him up'.

I'm never able to handle such pressure, especially when Takeru is involved. I've feared all my life of saying or doing the wrong thing and being disowned by him. So I'm always careful to choose word for word how to respond for him.

When he asked me

"_Why do Mummy and Daddy fight so much?" _

I had answered by saying

"_They're just sorting out a few problems. Like you and I do. And then they kiss and make up, just like we do too."_

When he asked me

"_Where do babies come from?" _

I had told him

"_When a Mommy and Daddy want a baby they wish really hard, and if they wish hard enough the angels come down and give them one."_

When he asked me

"_Why are you and Daddy going away?" _

I said

"_Daddy thinks I'm getting too big for this house and I'll end up accidently squishing you if I stay. So we're getting another home that you can come to any time. That way we can actually camp out instead of playing pretend."_

So, if he asks

"What happened in the accident Nii-chan?"

I'll fake a smile and tell him:

"Stupid me was just being careless. I was too busy spacing out that I stepped into the road without looking both ways. So you should learn from my error and pay attention when crossing the road, Takeru."

Just like me he forged a smile. How very alike we are.

"I'm not a kid anymore, Nii-chan. I actually listened during road safety class. You're just too clueless for your own good."

He patted my head, he ruffled my hair, and then he continued to aid me with a sad smile on his face. When he'd finished I ignored my partial nudity and held him close. He felt hesitant as he embraced me, worried that he'd irritate a bruise or cut.

"I love you so much, Nii-chan. I'm so glad you're here, and I'm sorry that you aren't having a good time."

"It's okay, I love you too. I'm happy to be here. It's much nicer than being in an office and drawing cupboards and chairs all day."

I ran my fingers through his hair for a final time before we broke apart. Apparently it took a barely fatal collision to bring us brothers that little bit closer. It made me very happy.

--

After my first delicious and unburnt dinner in Odaiba the younger siblings decided that they wanted some privacy to get to know each other better or, more accurately, to know each other in a more intimate way. This regrettably meant for me that I could either have a very early night of sleep, or I could converse with the elder Yagami. Taichi seemed to make the decision for me when he grabbed me to the sofa and held up a six pack of beer.

"I'm bored stiff and want a beer. It seemed like a reasonable idea to have you accompany me."

Personally I would have preferred to stare at a blank wall for hours until I could fall asleep, but it didn't seem to be an option as he manoeuvred my hand to hold the open can of alcohol.

We were silent to an extent that it was chillingly awkward. I couldn't understand why he suddenly could bear my company. Not a few hours ago we'd been fighting like desperate carnivores over the last scrap of meet. He even had a few plasters on his face that stood as proof of that.

He gulped down his first can swiftly and slammed it on the table in front.

"So, that was some fight we had earlier. You pack one hell of a punch. My jaw is hurting like a bitch."

I nodded and sipped from my own can, keeping as far away as possible on the end of the sofa.

"So do you fight like that often or something? You seem practiced."

"N-No. I was just moving on pure instinct. I haven't used my fists in years."

He moved a little bit closer to me and opened a second beer. Taking a gulp he turned his body to face me and put his feet up on the sofa behind me.

"Really? You seem like the kind of guy who builds it all up until one day he just goes ape shit and explodes and hits everyone."

"You have me all wrong them. I'm useless when it comes to violence. I'm in no position to react physically without severe consequences."

"So, what do you do when you get angry?"

I shrugged stiffly, took another sip, and played with the lid of the can. His interest in me made me suspicious.

"Uh...I suppose I write a list or something. Or perform that ritual where you write a letter to person but don't send it."

"That's not healthy for you man. If you don't let out your anger once in a while you could get stomach ulcers and stuff. I mean, use today as an example. Don't you feel much better after kicking the shit out of me?"

He observed my face as I thought it over. Although I had still been angry when I'd walked away from the fight I did feel quite satisfied that I'd wounded him. By his producing grin he'd noticed that my realisation of the answer. He took another draught from his can.

"My point exactly."

"I understand that violence satisfies anger. But surely you can't just go assaulting anyone you aren't fond of."

"Of course not, I'm not an idiot. So when I can't get violent or active I listen to music."

"Aah, that's what I do. Listen to soothing music."

"Fuck no!"

I looked at him with bewilderment, uncertain about what he meant. He gave a frustrated groan before delving into his tight jean pockets. He squirmed and kicked me a few times before he got a hold into his desired object which was tightly caught in the crevice of the material.

He eventually pulled out a small music device. It was sleek and small, like the one on the several colourful and popular adverts that had been posted around. I couldn't recall the name due to my primitive lifestyle when it came to electronics, but I knew that it was expensive.

He handed me an earphone and instructed me to listen to his music. As he toyed with the buttons of his gadget I'd assumed that the music he'd show me wouldn't be anything that I hadn't heard before. But the very sudden blare of loud drums and bass made my eardrums vibrate to the extent that I thought they would start to bleed. I quickly pulled out the earphone.

"God, that is loud!"

I exclaimed as I handed it back to him. Instead of taking it back he sat up and urged me to put it back in my ear.

"I've turned it down, but keep listening to it and tell me how it makes you feel."

"What are you? A music psychiatrist?"

"Haha you're so funny." He mimicked sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

"Just do it. And take it seriously."

So I reluctantly put it back in and was grateful that it was half of the intense volume that it had been. When I listened properly to it I found that I still disliked it. It was a type of music that those dark and angsting teens seemed to listen to. The drum beat was irregular and continuously seemed to change. The bass was thudding and deep, synchronising with my own pulse that I could feel in my head and beating just as painfully. There weren't any identifiable melodies or chords, and the voice didn't sing in melody either. It must have taken a lot of talent to arrange this clutter of noise to somehow give it structure.

"I don't really like it. It frustrates me."

"That's normal. It frustrates me too, but in a good way. It gets all of your bad emotions up on the surface so that you can easily release them by doing sports or simply walking. I play soccer so when I'm angry. I listen to this music and kick a few goals which gets me feeling much better within minutes."

I stared at him in shock for a few seconds. For the first time that'd we'd met he seemed to say something that made sense at the same time as being interesting. At home I could always go jogging while listening to this music. That way I wouldn't end up with rashes and headaches from stress that I seemed to get regularly. He stared at me expectantly, wanting my assurance that he wasn't speaking out of his anus.

"You're deep. I didn't expect that of you."

He sniggered and scratched the back of his neck. His grin widened just that little bit and the apples of his cheek brightened.

"Nah, I'm not deep. I just listen to a lot of music and get easily angered."

I laughed a non-fake laugh at that and felt just that little bit relaxed.

"That sounds like quite a reasonable explanation. You're going to have to give me a list of artists to take home after this."

"Yeah, of course. I have tons of stuff that you might like. What sort of music do you normally listen to?"

"Well...Jazz, Blues and miscellaneous types of things. The sort of music that the elderly seem to like, so I've been told."

"In that case, I think I could be your friend for the sake of converting you from prude to dude."

He snickered and gave me a 'thumbs up' signal before swallowing more of his beer. Remembering that I have my own unfinished can in hand I quickly consumed the remainder of alcohol left in the can before leaving it empty on the table.

"Changing the subject a little, why have you been so argumentative with me since we arrived? I could understand if you acted in such a way towards Takeru because you would just be protecting your sister. But with me, I can't think of a reason."

He turned away apprehensively from me and fiddled with the earphone wires. His bangs fell over his face in a way that I couldn't see any of his face other than the roof of his nose.

"Well...you see."

He stuttered to some extent and avoided eye contact. But after failing at forming a coherent sentence he quickly decided to use a different method to tackle the question. He leaned back on the arm of the sofa and put his arms behind his head, forming a typical position of nonchalance and detachment. His bright red face was now visible to me and contradicted his laidback appearance.

"You...You first arrived here looking all prissy and up yourself that I couldn't help but be annoyed. But you and your brother are way different when it comes to personalities, with him being all cool and social. I just took a liking to him. Which reminds me, you should probably go to a doctor about getting that stick removed from your arse."

His explanation wasn't very clear to me and had quite a few holes in it, but I deemed it acceptable and left it be. It was easy to understand that I come across as quite an unapproachable character.

I just nodded and waved off the comment of having a doctor remove the stick from one of my orifices. That stick was precisely what charmed some of my clients into considering some of my designs. Without it I wouldn't be as successful as I was.

"So how come you and Takeru are so different. You look the same and even have a similar voice and stuff, but in terms of personality and attitude you might as well compare two complete strangers."

I was diffident about answering and had I been sober, and with a slightly less amusing companion, I would have advised them to keep their nose out of my business. But one can of beer had already successfully loosened my lips and words escaped me without resistance.

"Well we grew up in different households. I lived with my Father and Takeru lived with my Mother."

"You're folks are divorced? You don't get many families like that around Odaiba, for sure. Don't you see your Mum or anything?"

He grabbed another beer at the same time as me and we popped the caps simultaneously. I finished half of the can in a few mouthfuls which quietened the remainder of voices that told me to keep my years to myself.

"Not particularly. She finds it uncomfortable to be around me because we're so distant from each other. After my first few visits to her and Takeru she showed me a strange side of her that seemed to be unfamiliar with my existence. So I gave up on seeing her and just met up with Takeru regularly."

"Man, that sounds kinda rough. I can't imagine my Mum being like that. You must think of me as ungrateful or something to have my parents still together."

"No, I don't think of you like that at all. I'm not one to blame the problems of life upon the more fortunate. That would be unfair of me."

As a cure for my sadness I drank more beer, finishing my second can. It was always painful to talk about my parents. It was enough to leave the subject untouched unless substances had been consumed that left me in a less than reasonable state of mind. I was finally drunk enough to lean against the back of the sofa when I continued.

"And besides, my Dad and I had a close relationship. He resembled both a Mother and a Father to me."

"What's with the use of past tense? Did he die?"

This time at the mentioning of my deceased father not even the alcohol could calm my sorrows or uncertainties.

"Why are you so interested? Surely we should change the topic to something more interesting."

I laughed mechanically to cover my emotions and grabbed another beer from the pack. At the rate that we were consuming the alcohol we would be drunk before bed time.

"But this _is_ interesting to me. I want to know more about you."

"Um...okay?"

"I don't mean that in a creepy way. It's just that Odaiba hasn't got many interesting people in it like you. The social groups are very limited. I'm just sorry if I struck a nerve or something. If you don't want to talk about your Dad then I respect that."

His disappointed voice somehow struck me and I felt guilty for wanting to keep secrets from him. I opened the beer and took a gulp, finally acquiring to the taste of the foreign brand.

"It's fine. I'll tell you if you're interested. Even though I still find it difficult to understand why you would be fascinated by such a topic."

He leaned from the arm of the chair once more to his previous position which gave me the sentiment that he was being attentive and sympathetic towards me. It was such a different side to him than how he'd been acting previously that the conversation seemed so surreal. When I at last began to speak my voice was much more sorrowing and quiet. I mourned the death of a legendary man as I spoke.

"He died about a year ago from lung cancer. He was a heavy smoker and the stress from his job had some effect on him as well."

"I'm so sorry.

"Don't be. You didn't give him the illness so there's nothing to be sorry for. He was a great man during his life and he left me with amazing memories of him."

Taichi smiled at my surprising optimism and opened a fresh can. He raised it towards me with resolve.

"Let's drink to his memory then. To Mr-Yamato's-Dad, for being an all around awesome guy."

His gesture certainly made an impact on my frame of mind, bringing an honest smile to my face.

"I'll drink to that."

He seemed surprised by my suddenly tender tone of voice as I tapped my can against his and took a hearty swig of the alcohol. He sipped his own attentively as he fixed his eyes on my face. His expression seemed like that of an oblivious child gazing upon a dazzling show of fireworks. Wonderment and curiosity in the bright face that he upheld. Laughing once more he snatched the can from my hand before I could finish it and set it on the table with his own.

"And now that we have a reason to drink, I now have a reason to use some of the more expensive stuff."

He stalked away and searched a liquor cabinet, surfacing after a while with a large bottle of 'Johnny Walker' scotch. I knew from experience that such a brand was more than just expensive. At some bars half a bottle could equal the price of a designer coat or four haircuts and a shave.

"Woah, are you sure? Isn't that your parents' or something?"

He smugly wandered back to the sofa with the gold labelled bottle and two glasses.

"Yeah. But they are away on a three month vacation and left Hika and I to take care of the house. Part of taking care of the house is the responsibility of taking care of its guests. You are a guest and you need alcohol, therefore I am doing my duty to supply you with the best kind that we have."

I felt guilty to be consuming such a luxurious scotch all from the kindness of an acquaintance. I also felt guilty that such a beverage wasn't being prepared properly with ice and in a proper glass. But neither of those reasons gave me the will to resist the offer.

I watched yearningly as he poured a generous amount into my glass and was even more munificent when it came to pouring for himself. We clinked our glasses together in satisfaction and kicked aside the beer. Such a cheap brand of drink was not worthy to be drunk in my father's memory. But scotch perfectly suited him. He'd been a partaker of strong liquors in his lifetime and the expensive brand that I drank with Taichi was very becoming of his nature during his life. A superlative liquor for an exceptional man.

--

And thus I awoke once again in the Yagami home with the sound of a clicking mechanism and a bright light. But this time there were no padding feet to chase after the culprit. Instead I awoke to two faces being obscured by the thick lens of a camera.

"What the f-"

I could hear Taichi mumble. His voice sounded very close to my ear and the surface that I slept on rumbled as he spoke. My mind was far too hazy to take note of these facts, and the headache that surfaced as soon as my eyes opened was also very distracting. But as soon as I felt myself being moved I became very aware of what kind of situation I was in.

After a long night of consuming alcohol I had fallen asleep on top of something that definitely wasn't a bed. Taichi's chest seemed to substitute my pillow and his arms covered me in place of a blanket. And there, in front of us, stood our younger siblings immortalising the event with a pink, digital camera. When I tried to push myself off of the person beneath me I found his hold around my waist to tighten and pulled me back down. It seemed that he hadn't fully awoken from his drunken coma.

"Taichi, could you please let go of me? I need to get up."

"Mmmm...don't wanna."

His fatigued rambling only entertained the other two in the room even more and Hikari nearly dropped the camera in her fit of laughter.

"Ahaha, come on, Taichi. I don't think Sora would be too pleased to see you having an affair with Yamato."

She laughed in his ear. The mentioning of his girlfriend's name seemed to wake him up a bit more, but he still didn't release me no matter how much I squirmed.

"What do you mean by that, Hika? Leave me alone, I'm tired."

So he closed his eyes once more and held me to his chest like a toy, nearly rolling on top of me in order to curl away from the intruding light from the window. So in desperation to free myself I pinched the skin of his arm hard enough to leave a pink bruise. With a yelp he retracted his hold around me and I quickly made my escape. I stumbled more than once on my way to standing due to my pounding head and trembling legs, but once I regained balance I brushed myself off and straightened my shirt.

"Ah, who pinched me?"

"I did because you were choking me."

I mumbled with a hand to my pulsating temple. Takeru and Hikari were both still laughing maniacally, so while they were distracted I grabbed the pink camera from Hikari's loose hold. She didn't seem to notice that I'd taken it and proceeded to bully her brother and coax him to waking. So I proceeded to look through the photos to delete the one that she'd taken of us.

The first few pictures that came up were some that she'd taken at different times. Pictures of flowers, places, animals and people with such compositions that I considered to be very professional. Then close to the end I found the one that she'd taken the day before. It was of Takeru and I as we slept with my arm around him and his head on my shoulder. Takeru had probably begged her to delete it when she took it but I was rather glad that she hadn't. Perhaps at the end of our visit I could convince her to send me a copy.

And then there was the new picture of Taichi and I entwined together on the sofa. The terrifying thing about that photo was that...it didn't look unnatural. In fact it looked it looked _very_ natural. I didn't look out of place in his embrace and he didn't look awkward as he held me. I didn't know that my sleeping face could look so...content.

"Hey, what are you doing with my camera?"

So I briskly deleted it and placed the camera on the table.

"Nothing much."

I muttered and left the room to retrieve some fresh clothes. Taichi was now sitting upright, but he didn't seem fully awake. He yawned and ran a hand through his mess of hair before giving his sister a one armed hug to bid her good morning. Takeru followed after me to the spare room soon after.

"Morning, Nii-chan. Have a nice sleep?"

He chortled in obvious mockery. So I returned his banter with equal enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I did thanks. I hope you two used a condom last night."

He successfully blushed to the tips of his ears and spluttered nonsense.

"W-We didn't do anything! You and Taichi probably did more than we did!"

"Right, okay then. I'll try to believe that."

I laughed, all the while blushing a little bit at the mentioning of Taichi's name. Luckily I wasn't facing Takeru for him to notice the sudden colour in my face.

"So, have you and your girlfriend sorted out some plans for today then?"

Takeru kicked my leg playfully and sat on the bed as I took out some fresh clothes from my suitcase. I was running out of clothes that I enjoyed wearing, and sooner or later I'd have to wear some of my new, slutty clothes.

"Well actually, we were thinking about staying in today. You know...to give you some time to rest. Your bruises must be hurting."

Although I liked that Takeru was concerned about me, I was still annoyed that he was treating me like a burden.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

I forced myself to sound indifferent about the situation, even though I was upset that I was an interruption in Takeru's fun. He was the _last_ person that I wanted to be a bother to.

An idea came to mind quite quickly, and my sudden bond that was created between Taichi and myself aided in my decision.

"Hey, Takeru, why don't you and Hikari go out somewhere? I'm happy with just hanging out here."

"Are you sure? I mean, are you gonna be okay here with just Taichi?"

"Yeah, sure. We've put some of our differences aside."

He gave me a bright smile.

"That's great to hear. I'm going to tell Hikari."

He dashed out of the room with a spring in his step that brought my own smile to show. But just before leaving e leant against the doorframe and smiled at me.

"Thanks, Nii-chan."

I waved him away to hide the blush that dawned across my cheeks and prayed to whatever God that was out there that Taichi would go easy on me while we were home alone.

-----

My goodness, I didn't realise I would leave this chapter so late. Sorry if there are any people who actually want to read this story, I basically forgot all about this fic.

I'm probably not going to discontinue it just yet because I really want to get to the steamy/partially romantic parts. But reviews will probably help remind me to work on this story. Otherwise I'm just going to keep writing these weird oneshots that I forget to upload or just generally ignore writing anything.

So yeah, sorry about my long-winded style of writing. I know first hand just how difficult it is to just read big chunks of description. But tell me what you think of the story so far and stuff and hopefully I'll upload the next chapter much sooner, for that is the chapter where SOMETHING INTERESTING ACTUALLY HAPPENS INSTEAD OF JUST BEING 8000 WORDS WORTH OF NONSENSE!!


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as Takeru and Hikari were out the door the Yagami home melded into a lonely silence. Taichi had returned to sleeping on the sofa and I found myself regretting the decision of allowing my brother to leave me alone in the unfamiliar territory. With the only other person in the house unconscious I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what room I could go in, what forms of entertainment there were or even if I was allowed to cook myself something. Not that I even knew how to work their appliances anyway.

So I did what I was best at. I sat in an awkward silence on the chair next to Taichi and rubbed one thumb over the other. My slumber the night before must have been very deep considering I only now noticed how loud he snored. His broad chest rose with each breath as though an animal was burrowing beneath its surface. A new bruise was beginning to darken on his cheek from where I'd hit him the day before and I took pride in the fact that I had made such a mark. His hair was much more disorganized than it had been in its natural state, showing the starting signs of collecting grease at the roots from forgetting to shower. I had no idea how he could bear being in such a state, not caring about being well kempt or clean. The thought was fascinating. Although, I hadn't decided whether I was disgusted or amazed by it.

I didn't want to be near him, especially after our recent and humiliating encounter, but he was asleep and I couldn't just hide in the guest room all day. I could always turn on the television if I felt too uncomfortable.

I'd behaved so unlike my usual self the night before; gabbing with an unrestrained tongue about myself and my intimacies. I'd said so much about myself that I had no idea what horrible things I'd revealed. I could have told Taichi something terrible and frightened him and I was unaware of it. There was a depth to me that could very easily terrify a normal person. I knew that now only from making such terrible mistakes in the past.

When he began to stir, and I felt that itch of discomfort in the back of my neck and the pit of my stomach and I knew then that I should have chosen to hide from him.

He muffled nonsense into the cushion and stretched like a feline across the length of the sofa.

"Morning."

He croaked and nursed his newly born headache. Mine was still pulsating weakly in the back of my skull, but with practice I was able to ignore it. I hummed my reply and tried my best not to look at him. I found it unnerving to have people look at me while I sleep so I was sure that he would feel similarly.

He slumped into the back of the sofa and crossed his feet on the table in front of him, leaving a sweaty stain on the varnished surface from where he'd dragged his skin.

"Where are the kiddies?"

His voice was weak and I hated that I could practically hear the phlegm collecting in the back of his throat. My cringe was automatic.

"They went on a date."

"Okay. If they come back and she isn't a virgin then, regardless of your opinion, I'm going to murder your brother."

I restrained my urge to warn him that at such an age it was highly unlikely that his sister was as virginal as he thought. If I had told him such a thing I would most likely have either my head or my penis hacked and severed from my body, and both of those body parts were equally important to me.

"That's understandable, I suppose."

I stuttered with an awkward chuckle and he ignored my response. He stumbled to standing and mumbled a few curse words into his hand before clearing his throat.

"I'm making breakfast. You want some?"

At first I forgot everything except for my woefully empty stomach and I just nodded my head at the thought of a meal. But it wasn't until Taichi began to retreat to the kitchen that I remembered that if Taichi cooked I would most likely not be consuming anything edible for breakfast.

"Actually, Taichi."

I quickly jumped up and endured a painful head rush. He turned to me without enthusiasm and revealed his tired eyes to me for the first time since he'd woken up. The skin under his eyes was dark and concaved.

"Could I have your permission to make breakfast instead?"

"Have my permission?"

He laughed groggily, mocking my formal way of asking him. Willing myself not to slap him I just nodded my head and ignored the ache of my brain rattling in my skull. He shrugged and continued to the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure. You any good at cooking?"

He said over his shoulder as I followed him into the tiled room and settled into the centre.

"My skills are adequate."

"That's better than some. You alright to work the stove and stuff?"

"I should be. It can't be much different than my own."

"Okay then. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. I'm going to take a shower."

He gave me a tired smile and floated down the hall in a daze. I was left rubbing my hands together, unaware of how or where to start.

I was a little hesitant about using his kitchen. My own kitchen was small and comfortable for me to move around in. But, similar to the rest of the home, the Yagami's kitchen was very spacious and just a little bit too modern. It reminded me of those set kitchens that you see on those unbearable cooking programmes. So, since I wasn't in the best mood or fully experienced with the equipment I decided that I would make a few simple things.

The advantages of Taichi's kitchen were all of the useful appliances that I'd never been able to afford. A rice cooker proved to be so much more sensible than my usual routine of using a pan. There were also four gas cookers of different sizes, which were useful when making two things at once and not having to put a dish to the side and risk it cooling before it had been served.

Although I felt awkward using the kitchen I was quite proud with the results of my labour. The Tamagoyaki had been rolled successfully, the Natto was sticky to the right consistency, and although I had to make do without any seaweed the Miso soup turned out quite successful and flavoursome.

After I had a bit of trouble finding where the chopsticks and bowls were kept I set the table for two.

"That smells awesome."

Taichi called from the kitchen, surprising me to the point that I nearly dropped a bowl. When he came in he was still mopping his damp hair with a towel. He hung it around his neck and sat in the chair in front of where I was setting the food, giving me a bright smile in the process.

"Itadakimasu."

He called before I'd even had enough time to lay the food in front of him and he heartily tucked into my cooking. I had to quickly snatch back my hand in fear of having a few of my fingers bitten off. I circled the table and sat in my own seat, chanting the introduction to my meal.

"This is good."

Taichi spat at me, just as I was picking up my chopsticks. Luckily I was sitting far away enough to be out of reach from his half chewed food and saliva that sprayed towards me.

"Thanks."

I nodded, but before I was able to bring a mouthful to my lips he interrupted me once more.

"This is _really_ good."

He emphasised and laughed through his nose so not to spill his mouthful. I thanked him again and set to eating. There was a silence between us during the meal. He was too busy enjoying the food and I was happy enough to have a moment of peace while I ate. Apart from the slurping noises from Taichi, I had enough silence to clearly think about a few things. My injuries, my brother and his soon to be girlfriend, my career that I'd recklessly gambled with and most likely would lose, and the possibility of being able to afford my own rice cooker when I returned to my apartment.

"How comes you can cook so well?"

Taichi had finished his breakfast quickly, leaving nothing but a few smears on the crockery. It seemed that with the task of filling himself completed he wanted some social interaction to pass the time.

"Practice, I suppose."

I mumbled, hoping that my short answer wouldn't spark any possibility of continuing the conversation. But, then again, Taichi was one who didn't seem to notice such hints.

"Yeah, I really should practice cooking. I've just been living off of readymade meals and takeout food. I haven't been living on my own all that long so I'm still not used to it."

I just nodded. My pulsating headache clearly hated the sound of Taichi's voice, and made sure to notify me using an immense pain.

"I can't cook, I can't clean, I can't iron, I can't sort out recycling and I lose my keys every few weeks. I'm so terrible."

I cringed as his chuckle stabbed at the inner walls of my head like a knife. I smiled back weakly with a bit of a flinch. He seemed to finally take heed from my painful expression and stayed quiet while I ate. My headache settled down after a minute or so and food had definitely settled my stomach to an extent. I cleaned up the plates and bowls while Taichi followed me around the kitchen and showed me where to put things. Then he sat on the island counter and swung his legs.

"So, how come the kids went off by themselves today?"

I sighed at the memory of Takeru's reason to leave me here. Surely once it was revealed Taichi would make a mockery of my weakness.

"According to Takeru I need a day of rest, and I thought that the two could have some time alone together."

"Oh yeah...I forgot about your injuries and such."

I was more than surprised that Taichi hadn't taken the opportunity to make a snide remark about me. It still hadn't sunken in that we were supposedly 'chums' since last night. The event had been very instantaneous and I hadn't been entirely certain that it would make much of an effect on his attitude towards me. But his sudden change in personality put me in my place.

"So, what sort of pain medication are you taking?"

"I-I don't know. I don't really care as long as it works. But it's in a little white bottle with those child safety clicking lids."

"That doesn't sound like very good quality then, if it's a prescription drug."

"I know. But what can I do? I know less about drugs than I do about rocket science."

"And how much _do_ you know about rocket science?"

Taichi smiled, taking my expression as an opportunity to exert some humour out of me. So I obliged.

"I know that if you stand too close during take off your face will inevitably be melted off."

He laughed, and I felt satisfied that I had successfully amused him. It felt nice to hear him laugh after hearing nothing but scorn from him since my arrival. I couldn't suppress the trace of a smile inch across my lips.

"Well, I still have some medication left over from when I broke my leg if you run out of your stuff. It made me practically numb from the nose down. I could fall down the stairs and not even notice."

"I don't know if I can handle that. I still want to be able to move while I'm medicated."

--

That evening was spent doing all types of mundane, miscellaneous forms of entertainment. All manners of horrid day time television shows had been watched, every crumb of junk food had been consumed by Taichi and I'd probably had a total of twenty cigarettes that day just to keep myself occupied. There was no doubt that doing this had fuelled my addiction to an extent that I had been trying to avoid. But at least smoking could easily become a pass time to indulge in while in Odaiba, where there was absolutely nothing to do.

Taichi had desperately tried to converse with me whenever he was in a five foot radius of me. He kept asking question after question about personal and unimportant things that he wanted to know: my favourite colour, my job, my pets, if I had any, my taste in music. The kind of things that you normally wouldn't bother to ask a person because they are just so insignificant. He didn't finally give up until later evening when our siblings returned home. From then on he proceeded to interrogate the younger two about where they went, what they were doing, who were they with, was she pregnant, and so on and so forth. I didn't care for the matter and simply chose to retire early, for hopes that sleep would make this long visit progress much faster than I dreaded it to. But I couldn't actually fall asleep until Takeru came to bed at around midnight.

Then, when I awoke at ten o'clock, he and Hikari had already disappeared to have more 'young people' fun. I was feeling a bit abandoned. But I trod down any such feelings swiftly. Takeru would be displeased if I were to be too possessive as an older brother, and of course he would have much more fun with a female of his own age than a male who was old enough to have the beginnings of a back problem.

--

The ball hit the wall again with a blunt sound and perfectly landed back in the palm that had initially thrown it. This cycle had been repeated hundreds of times over the past twenty minutes by Taichi and his patterned soccer ball. He was swiftly succeeding in tearing at my nerves. I was tempted to deflate that stupid ball with my own sharpened finger nails and smother the fabric remains into Taichi's face until he stopped breathing.

Taichi had soon discovered that I was a terrible conversation partner quite quickly, so he didn't try as hard to talk to me as he used to. He just splayed himself along the sofa and passed the ball back and forth between him and the wall opposite him. I was waiting eagerly for a clumsy ricochet of the ball to knock over some of the Yagami decorative figurines and vases that were displayed around the room.

Taichi caught the ball once more and rested it against his stomach.

"This is the second day of not doing something! I'm bored!"

Taichi groaned and kicked his legs, sulking like an immature buffoon. Crossing my legs I rolled my eyes, feeling less than unimpressed at his antics.

"Then do something."

I suggested blatantly, hinting at the partial sarcasm in my tone. I was easily irritable.

"There's nothing to do!"

"That's not my fault."

"But I'm bored."

Taichi whined and waved his arms dramatically, allowing his ball to roll onto the floor and under the coffee table towards me.

"Then call your girlfriend or something. Surely she could entertain you."

He muttered something and made some sounds of contemplation; typical "aahh" and "mmm" as though he was thinking of something else to say because his first response could be taken offensively.

"I...don't know."

"Why? You haven't seen her since we first arrived, right?"

"Yeah, but she was all bitchy to me on the phone. I don't know if she's angry with me or something."

"Then maybe you should call her to find out why? She'd probably appreciate it."

"Oh yeah, because you're _such_ an expert in women."

I could tell from Taichi's tone that he was agitated from my suggestion. The way he spoke scornfully to me was upsetting, but I didn't take it to heart knowing that he was probably just troubled by his girlfriend. So I chose my following words carefully so not to be the target of his foul mood.

"Definitely not, but I have experience with a situation like this."

"Rubbing it in are you?"

He hissed at me, sitting up to look me in the eye. I controlled myself to seem unaffected by his sudden offence.

"I'm doing what?"

"You're gloating over the fact that I haven't had many girlfriends."

I sighed at his accusation, understanding that he was only retaliating to my advice so badly because he was self conscious about his lack of knowledge about women. It was clear to see it on his blushing face that he was embarrassed by the thought that I was superior to him in the art of women.

So in order to sooth him I choked down any small chortles that threatened to be released and tried to reassure him to a small extent.

"Well, I don't know how many girlfriends you've had, so I can't really gloat. I was just offering some advice. If you don't want to take it, then that's perfectly fine."

Probably understanding that I wasn't try to insult him, his glare softened and his blush deepened.

"Ugh, no, I'm sorry. We've just become friends and I'm already starting more arguments."

It felt strange to hear him address me as a friend, so I was a bit taken back by his apology.

"Um...okay then."

I laughed awkwardly, breaking eye contact to look at my hands that I was rubbing together. Silence then claimed us and Taichi sat up properly in thought of something. Eventually he even rushed to standing with a self satisfied grin adorning his face.

"I've got it! I'll invite the guys round."

I admit that I was a little wary about Taichi having his friends round while I was still here. It's already been established that I am no skilled socialite, and I don't do well talking to strangers or a large group of people. And Taichi was planning on putting me into a situation that required both skills.

"Would your parents be alright with you having a gathering in their house?"

"Hey, I'm an adult. We won't trash the place or anything. We'll just kick back and open a few beers. You feeling up to drinking?"

"Y-Yeah, whatever."

He was talking so quickly and in such an excited way that I was a bit put off, and I stuttered. How disgraceful.

"Great. Get some nice clothes on then."

That was a terrible, catastrophic idea. Considering the only 'nice' clothes that I had were the ones that Takeru had bought for me I was more than hesitant about changing. The only thing worse than a socially awkward, weedy man ruining a friendly get together was a socially awkward, weedy man dressed as a prostitute who was ruining a friendly get together.

"If it's only 'the guys' that are coming over then there isn't necessarily a reason for me to dress up."

"Aww, come on. Don't you want to impress my friends?"

"I'm not particularly concerned about that."

Scratching the back of my neck I hoped that he'd leave me alone and let me stay dressed in my rags. But despite my deep hopes he grabbed my forearm and pulled me to the spare room to raid my suitcase.

"Come on Mr moody. Making an effort is important, no matter who is going to see you."

I wasn't quick enough to tear out of his hold before I was thrown on my back onto the huge bed. Taichi left me there while he pulled out my suitcase.

"This is ridiculous. The clothes I'm wearing are fine."

"Yeah they may be fine, but they're also outdated and way too big for you."

I was more than upset watching Taichi manhandle my luggage, arranging it into random piles of clutter. It had been organised to my liking, and now I would have to do it all over again.

"You have such cool stuff in here. Why don't you wear any of it?"

"Takeru picked out most of what's in there. And they all make me look like a man whore of some kind."

"But man whores are supposed to be good looking."

Taichi snickered. For my revenge I kicked his back hard enough to leave a bit of a footprint. He fell face first into my pile of clothes.

"Oww, what was that for?"

He whined, trying to nurse the bruise on his back but unable to reach it. With his back turned it was easy to hide my snicker.

"Just keep looking."

But my amusement had been revealed when I felt my voice shake. He ignored me and continued looking, picking out a few things he liked and putting them aside.

"Perfect."

Standing up he threw me the outfit he chose, making me reach out in different directions in order to catch them all.

"Try it on."

Sitting next to me on the bed he watched to see what I thought of his choice. I'm not being dramatic when I say that I was horrified. The tightest trousers that Takeru had bought me were these baby blue Levis with rips at the back of the knees, which just happened to be the jeans that Taichi had chosen for me to try on. The top that he'd chosen seemed innocent enough at first glance; a black long sleeved V-neck that looked as though it was quit concealing compared to the other shirts that I had packed. However, I knew from experience when trying it on, that the neck line dipped far too low for me to feel comfortable in, showing off an unhealthy amount of man chest.

"No way am I wearing _that_."

I laughed with disbelieving humour as I began to get up to find a new outfit, but before reaching my suitcase Taichi had blocked my path and started herding me towards the bathroom.

"Oh, it isn't _that_ bad."

"I'll look like I'm ready to give your friends a lap dance."

"At least try it on, then we'll judge it."

I couldn't argue any further before the bathroom door had been slammed in my face. So, feeling a bit threatened hearing Taichi waiting outside the door I decided to get it over with. _Then_ he would see why I was so against wearing the clothes and allow me to wear my rags.

The jeans were definitely more than just trouble to put on. Usually if you have to use two arms and a leg to pull on your trousers it was a sign that they were the wrong size. Luckily they weren't too tight in the 'crucial areas', so I wasn't completely suffocated, and the holes in the back of the knees were obviously there so that I could walk properly.

The top however was completely the opposite. Where I was normally supportive of loose clothes I found myself wishing that I had chosen a smaller size. With such a low and loose collar it was inevitable that at some point during the night I would have a "nip-slip"; something that any celebrity would dread happening to them.

"Jesus, I can barely move."

I mumbled, tripping over my legs as I tried to reach the door. I was already expecting a sort of shocked expression from Taichi considering how revealing my clothes were, but I was a little confused when I unveiled myself to him. He just stared at me as though I were a complete stranger to him; no recognition of who I was at all.

"Taichi?"

I tried to coax some kind of reaction from him. He was being far too silent to be considered natural. I couldn't even tell if it was a positive or negative reaction from the outfit, all I knew was that my nervousness was increasing tenfold with each second.

"It's decided. You are _definitely _wearing that."

He told me without even moving his eyes from my body to my face. Pulling the collar of the shirt together I was stunned by his positive response to my slutty get-up.

"Are you serious? I can't even sit down in these jeans."

"Then don't sit down in them. Just stand in the corner and look good. Barely anyone is going to see you anyway. It's just going to be a few of us guys, sitting round, doing fuck all and drinking a bit."

I wanted to throttle him. If barely anyone was going to see me then _what_ was the point in dressing up? Being 'friends' with Taichi suddenly seemed to be more of a chore than being enemies.

--

At first when Taichi had suggested 'having the guys over' I had expected a group of muscled clones to hang round and down cheap beer while talking about sports or women. The reality of the situation was the complete opposite.

Two males stalked through the entrance, whose scrawny physique made mine look much larger in comparison. They were soon followed by a stronger yet just as slim looking male and a smaller and slightly less muscled version of Taichi who instantly bounded over to him the second they'd made eye contact.

"Hey, Taichi. What happened to your face?"

He laughed and pointed out the small bruise that had begun to form on his cheek. Taichi laughed and pointed a thumb to me.

"This guy here landed one hell of a punch on me."

The group didn't seem to find it surprising that Taichi had been in a fight. But even so, all eyes set on me the moment I was brought into the conversation, and I realised that it was my cue to awkwardly introduce myself and expose my socially retarded tendencies.

"Hi, I'm Yamato."

I mumbled while undecided whether I should do an awkward wave or a business handshake. In the end I couldn't make up my mind, started to wave and then just ran my hand through my hair to cover up the bizarre hand motion. Luckily no one seemed to notice and the guy nodded a smile towards me.

"I'm Daisuke and this is Ken, Jyou and Izumi."

He listed, pointing to the three others that were with him. Insert a nervous smile and wave performed and returned between me and the three others. Then they all rounded together as usual friends do, laughing and whatnot, while I sort of trailed behind them into the living area.

"So, Taichi. Where's Hikari tonight?"

Daisuke asked, sitting down next to his older clone as soon as he had sat down.

"Out with a friend."

Taichi replied and patted the seat next to him signalling for me to sit on the other side of him, a request to which I obliged bashfully.

"A friend? Who? Do I know them?"

"He's Yamato's brother."

Daisuke got a shocked look on his face before leaning across Taichi to scan me over, taking in what he could of me. He had a boldness about him that was definitely comparable to Taichi.

"Does he look like Yamato?"

He questioned, not moving his eyes from me.

"Yeah. Really similar."

"Nooo, I'm doomed!"

He dramatised and collapsed onto the sofa with his hands covering his face. I was still rather tense and confused about what was so terrible about my appearance.

"What's going on? Why is it bad that my brother looks like me?"

I'd initially asked the question to Taichi, feeling a bit uncomfortable to ask the sobbing stranger next to him. But Daisuke answered my question anyway in a whiney pitch that stung my ears as though he were in turmoil.

"Because you're really attractive. And if you're brother is as hot as you then Hikari's probably totally in love with him."

And thus that was the last sentence that made sense before he just drifted off into whinging and moaning that was indecipherable to me. I was very taken back by the compliment of me being 'hot', not knowing if I should have taken it to heart when coming from the mouth of a sobbing, drivelling man. Taichi luckily translated what was going on after seeing my terrified face.

"Daisuke's had the hots for my sister for ages. But she's turned down every confession from him."

Nodding and finally understanding the reason behind the man's hysterics I didn't have much to say other than to state the obvious.

"Sucks for you."

"Yes. It does suck for me."

He whined, before opening one of the beers that Taichi had set out on the table beforehand. One of the other strangers to me intervened before Taichi could drink from it. He had a dark bob that framed his sharp face and muscled arms that reached out to lower the can from Daisuke's lips.

"Oi, Daisuke, lighten the alcohol intake tonight. You're the one that has to drive me home."

The brunette merely shrugged away from him.

"We'll take a cab if we have to. I need comfort. My love has abandoned me."

He leaned back into the sofa so that he could easily pour the beer straight down his throat, and the other shook his head in pity. Then he turned to me.

"I apologise for Daisuke's behaviour. He is far too crude to make a good first impression."

It felt nice to be included in the event, even if it was just to receive an apology. My smile had an air of sincerity to it.

"It's fine. I've become accustomed to Taichi's very candid personality so it wasn't too much of a shock."

Taichi hammered his elbow firmly into my shoulder and I couldn't suppress a chuckle. The short red head spoke up now, becoming involved and starting a proper conversation.

"So how did you come to know Taichi? You don't live in Odaiba do you?"

Before I could answer Taichi had slung his arm over my shoulder and taken the lead in telling everyone about me.

"Nope. He lives practically a day's worth of driving from here. His brother and Hikari are friends so they came down to visit."

The mention of Hikari again made Daisuke flood his system with yet even more alcohol but no one necessarily noticed other than Ken, who just looked a bit fed up of him.

"Wow, so how long are you staying for?"

"A few weeks I suppose. It's up to my brother or my employer when I'm supposed to go home."

"Oh, so what is your occupation?"

--

The evening continued on quite comfortably. I memorised names, I learnt about their jobs and lives at the same time as them learning about my own. It was all very normal and pleasant enough for me not to have a breakdown, like I seem to do quite frequently in most social situations. But after all of the beer had been consumed and they seemed to get more relaxed in my presence the conversation topics seemed to take a turn for the worst.

"So you're straight?"

Ken questioned to me, and with a red face and fidgeting hands I answered him.

"Yeah."

"So you've never been with a man before?"

"Well normally when you're straight it's customary to be attracted to women."

"But how do you know you're not bi or gay if you've never tried it with a guy?"

"Where is this sense of logic coming from?"

I laughed d Izumi took over Ken's position in the conversation in order to convince me.

"How do you know that being with a man would be less enjoyable if you've never tried it?"

"So even though you're all straight, you've been intimate with men?"

They all shared looks of knowing. Daisuke and Ken exchanged a secretive signal, but other than that Izumi bluntly replied.

"Uh...yeah."

I noted the hesitation in his voice, but before mentioning it Ken once again began to take over from where he'd left off.

"It's because we know that we didn't enjoy being with a guy that we realised why we prefer women."

"This is too bizarre."

I muttered into my beer and took a sip. However I nearly coughed back my mouthful when Taichi slapped my back in protest of my discreet statement.

"It's not bizarre. We're just comfortable with our sexuality. When you refuse to even _experiment_ with another guy it means that you're too afraid to face the possibility of not being straight."

"That's rather hypocritical of you, considering not two days ago you were calling me a faggot."

I narrowed my eyes at him and saw from the corner of my eye that his friends didn't seem too happy to hear about this either. They all shared a similar expression that of annoyance and an underlying of understanding that I was unable to share with them. Taichi blushed and argued back.

"W-Well, the fact that you were insulted by it means that you either really hate gays, or you're scared that you might _be_ gay."

There was no way for me to win this argument. No matter what I said I would either be considered a homo or a homophobe, and both labels would be rather damaging to my self respect.

"So...are you scared?"

He teased, keeping eye contact as he placed his beer on the coffee table.

"No, I just find the idea a bit disgusting."

"Well, if you're not scared, then you should be willing to at least give it a go."

"Taichi, this is a bit much. If he doesn't want to do it then don't make him."

Joe interrupted and waved his arms in order to get his attention. But the man didn't move his eyes from me and sent me a look of challenge. By now I was thoroughly confused. What did he want me to do? Go out and have sex with a man and them give them my verdict? Were they joking? I couldn't even tell.

Odaiba was proving to be far stranger than my initial estimate. And the inhabitants of Odaiba were continuously proving to be stranger still.

Taichi was still grinning like a criminal next to me and the others all seemed to exchange worried glances. I tried my best to ignore him and see if anyone would change the subject and save me. But no such action was taken and Taichi continued to stare me down, burning holes through me with those cunning eyes.

"Ugh...fine."

I huffed, and gulped down the entire can of beer in a few mouthfuls, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Taichi's expression suddenly become much less confident than it had been.

"Huh?"

He questioned, watching closely as I slammed the can on the table. It was as though he was actually surprised that I was standing up for myself. He just said that he wanted me to experience a man, right? Surely he should have understood what I meant when I agreed to him.

So with brute force and not a hint of technique I grabbed the back of Taichi's head and smashed my lips onto his. It was only a peck but even so I was still disgusted. His lips were moist with saliva and beer and they weren't soft at all. They were cracked and thin and when my cheek brushed his I felt a bit of stubble scrape across my sensitive and clean shaven face. This only served as a reminder of the fact that I was kissing a man and when I pulled away I swiftly popped the top of another can and downed as much of the savoury liquid as I could in one breath.

I had successfully silenced the room.

"Now that I have submitted to your logic of sexuality am I allowed to categorize myself as straight, now?"

I commented sarcastically, watching Taichi gape and gasp for a response. Daisuke was the first to speak.

"Well, did you enjoy it?"

I needn't spend more than a second thinking about the answer to that question.

"Not at all."

Next to me I could hear Taichi finally gain control over his jaw muscles and splutter a reply.

"That...That's not fair though. That wasn't a proper kiss. I was stunned. If you're going to do it then we might as well do it right."

It must have wounded his pride to hear that I didn't enjoy kissing him. Even when coming from another man such a comment could be taken quite offensively. However now, having consumed nearly two whole cans of beer in the space of a few seconds, I began to find the situation very amusing. Especially Taichi's wounded expression. So I was slightly more willing to kiss him a second time but still feeling slightly disgusted.

This time I felt a lot more nervous because of our slow pace: the first kiss had just been a swift second that I could recover from quickly. But this time Taichi had even turned around to face me full on and crossed his legs on the sofa. His face was bright red, dominating over his tan complexion and even stretching as far as to reach the tip of his ears.

Even though I was slightly more intoxicated it didn't stop me from feeling tense about kissing Taichi. He was definitely a man and he was definitely moving his face closer and closer to mine. Of course I wasn't homophobic, having great respect for those with the bravery to stand up against the norm of society. My excuse was that any person with morals or self awareness would be uncomfortable during their first act of intimacy between someone of the same sex. Everything was alien to me.

This time he was the one who held the back of _my_ head and pulled me towards him. I kept my hands by my side and moved closer, itching to get the experience over and done with. When his mouth met mine my senses were overwhelmed. There was no way possible that I could just pretend that I was kissing a gorgeous woman, and it made me increasingly uneasy.

His large hand in my hair covered nearly half of my head and his thick fingers firmly massaged my scalp. His scent was masculine and strong to the point of overpowering. His cracked lip moved awkwardly against mine, now being smoother over by my own lips. I held my breath, not wanting to breathe in too much of his cologne.

The others in the room were deathly silent. I have no idea how they could act so calm in such a situation. If I were an observer of such an event I would surely be dashing out of the room moments after it had even been mentioned to happen. But then again they were 'comfortable with their sexuality', so they would consider anyone who is uncomfortable to be weird instead of the norm of it being the other way around.

I was desperate to pull away, but wanted to do it discreetly so as not to offend Taichi. This proved to be difficult though when he didn't seem to want to stop any time soon. I felt his other hand snake its way around my waist and, not wanting to go any longer or get any more comfortable, I pushed him away by his shoulders.

"Did you enjoy it?"

He enquired before I'd even had time to catch my breath again. For some reason his instant questioning annoyed me. I pushed him further away from me until he was squashing Daisuke into the arm of the sofa on the opposite side of him.

"I'd very much prefer to kiss a woman."

I slurred, wiping my lips of any remaining taste and regretting that I had left no beer in my can to clean my mouth. The room remained ominously quiet while I made sure not to make eye contact with anyone, feeling a bit too awkward to involve myself.

"Well, then you're in the safe zone. Congratulations on confirming your heterosexuality."

Izumi laughed and raised his can to me as a form of congratulations. I shrugged and answered as sarcastically as possible.

"Great. I expected this to be an evening of embracing my masculinity and drinking beer."

"Cheer up, newbie. We can still be manly."

Taichi patted my head which irritated me by an impossible amount.

"Yeah, okay. And I suppose making out with another man is considered manly to you?"

"Well a gay man is still a man none the less."

"But I'm straight. And you told me that you, and everyone else in this room, are straight."

Taichi sighed at my rising temper and stood up.

"Fine. Then to make up for the fact that we just did something gay let's do something manly to neutralise it."

"Like what? Arm wrestling?"

Daisuke laughed and drank from his beer. Taichi only ignored him and made a move to put on his shoes.

"Nope. Follow me gentlemen."

--

We all piled into Taichi's car, keeping silent so as not to break the drama that he had tried to create. The night had progressed well into pitch black darkness and our siblings had probably already arrived home, wondering where we are.

The car was parked just along the edges of town, only a few minutes away from the beach and Shiokaze park. We all followed Taichi towards the beach, and I only then noticed the thick sports bag that he was carrying which looked to be straining under quite heavy contents. Daisuke, after more silence than he was used to, had decided to ask what was going on in any possible way. He even drifted into using different languages at some point after Taichi had refused to respond.

The whole situation had me stressed and annoyed. It felt like it was reaching -10 degrees and all I was wearing was what Taichi had chosen for me. The cruel wind pulled and whipped at the collar of my low cut shirt, leaving my bare chest exposed and shivering. So while blindly following the rest of the group I lit up my fifth cigarette in the past twelve hours, hoping for it to warm me up in some way and cloud my conscience enough to not be annoyed by my situation. There are many places that I would rather be than outside at God knows what hour into the night.

Taichi carefully placed his sports bag onto the sand when we'd finally reached the furthest part of the beach. We all stood in a line behind him, curiously peering over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the secret he kept. But he was swift to hide it from us and hid it behind his back when he turned to us. His expression held a childlike mischief.

"Gentlemen, I present to you the reason I agreed to stay at my parents' house apart from the free booze."

He slowly and dramatically pulled forward what we'd all been so desperate to see.

"I present to you...my Dad's handgun."

Leaning into us he held in his palm a small black "pistol". Jyou next to me backed away in a bit of shock, but other than him we were all eager to try it out.

"Whoa! You packing bullets?"

Daisuke exclaimed, his hand twitching at his side as though he were restraining his urge to snatch it from his hand.

"Yep. It's got a full barrel. Care to try it?"

Taichi held it out to him with a purely sinful grin. Daisuke flinched a bit, wanting to grab the gun, but looked to be restraining himself.

"You go first."

Taichi shrugged and scanned the scenery for targets. But probably finding none he brought out the last six pack of the cheap beer that was left.

"Here, drain this."

He asked of me, splitting two cans from the pack and handing me them. Feeling that already had a high enough alcohol percentage in my system I handed one can to Ken. I was able to swallow about half the can, until the taste became unbearable and I poured the rest onto the sand beneath me. The liquid darkened its colour and formed a grotesque puddle that I avoided when I handed the can back to Taichi.

Nodding in thanks with a smile he ran off in order to set it up as a target. He pulled forward a bench from the border of the beach that had been unbolted by vandals and dragged it to stand in front of us. Then he carefully balanced the empty can on the back of the bench. The bold colours and lettering of the can were reflective and easy to see in the dim light of a few beach lights. We all took a few steps back as he aimed at it. Jyou and Ken covered their ears while the rest of us seemed too immersed in anticipation to care if we were deafened.

But after the resounding bang of the bullet being thrown out of the chamber we all regretted not covering our ears. Izumi stumbled back in surprise at the volume and I ducked into my chest out of a reflex reaction. Taichi had also seemed to stumble back a few steps closer to us after he was overpowered by the strength of the gun.

"Shit! That is some kick back, or whatever it's called."

He mused in a low pitch of voice, as though he were trying to restore some of his masculinity after being so affected by gun's power.

"It's called 'recoil'."

Izumi spoke up while he brushed imaginary sand from his shirt. I too tried to recover from my whimpish reaction to the shot by pulling up the collar of my shirt and coughing into my hand.

Taichi nodded to Izumi, thanking him for educating him on the term but he had a spiteful look on his face, as though it were demeaning to be corrected by him.

"Who's next?"

"Me! I want a go!"

Daisuke finally admitted his want and rushed forward to take it from Taichi. His eyes gleamed with boyish delight once he held the structure in his hands. Ken had finally drained his own can of beer and handed it to Taichi to place on the bench.

He completed the task quickly and began to rush back to us, but Daisuke was too eager to wait and fired at the can while Taichi was only a few feet away. Instinctively he ducked and rolled away from the flying bullet.

"You missed. You missed _really_ badly."

Ken sniggered, seeing the shower of sand from where the bullet had hit the ground about ten feet away from the bench.

"Shut up Ken! It's not as easy as it looks."

Daisuke whined and looked over to Taichi to see him sulking and brushing off a layer of sand from his front. There was a thirst for revenge written on his dirtied face. But I think my company must have swayed him to not use violence, because after looking at me he seemed to calm himself down and merely slapped Daisuke on the back and took the gun from him.

"You're turn, Jyou."

Jyou barely caught it and held it at an arm's length in both his hand as though if it were jostled it would combust.

"Uh, I'm not too confident about this. Do you have a licence for this gun?"

"My dad does."

"Well, then what if I accidently hit someone."

"There isn't anyone but us around for miles. It's fine."

Even after Taichi's attempt at convincing home Jyou still refused to hold the gun.

"Come on, Jyou. You have to do it at least once. After that you could just kick back and watch."

With that statement from Taichi he must have finally realised that he would not be able to get away from his predicament half as easily as he hoped. So Taichi poured at a few cans a placed one on the bench.

"You can do it, Jyou."

Daisuke urged as Jyou finally raised the gun to aim.

"Don't close your eyes! How else are you supposed to aim?"

"Ah, Sorry."

His normally pale face could be seen in the dim light to be a mixture between bright red and a sickly green. He didn't look away when he pulled the trigger, but he certainly looked moments away from tears and even let out a terrified yelp at the recoil of the gun.

"You hit the bench. But at least it's better than Daisuke."

"Hey! It's not my fault! The recoil was really strong...and I was distracted!"

"By what?"

He suddenly went quite and pulled a distressed face at his lack of an answer. The subject was quickly changed. Izumi was given the gun next. He was much more willing than Jyou and stoically took aim. Even when the shot was fired his small frame barely shuddered from the strong recoil.

"Whoa. I didn't know you could aim."

Taichi announced, squinting t see the can that was now knocked onto the sand with a large chunk of aluminium missing from it.

"Divergent to popular belief I do play video games as well as being interested with the technical aspects of technology in my leisure periods. One of my more favoured pass times would be my latest edition Xbox with the adaptable gun controller."

"Awesome."

I had realised by now that Izumi had a tendency to use unnecessarily long and intelligent words that would have to be deciphered like some kind of code before anyone was able to understand what he meant. So along with the others I nodded and pretended to listen to him.

"Now it's your turn, Yamato. Stub out the cigarette and get your arse over here."

Taichi pulled on my arm while I stubbed out the but of my cigarette in the sand. The gun certainly was heavy when placed in my heads, but not nearly as weighty as I had expected due to the dramatic performances of the others.

"Jesus. I feel like one of those kids from those old fashion sitcoms who do this sort of thing."

I snickered as I watched Taichi jog ahead to prepare the can.

"Yeah. All you're missing is the leather jacket."

He yelled back to me as he returned to see my attempt at shooting.

I aimed it carefully, steadying my hand so that the gun was pointing directly at the estimated centre of mass. I wanted the perfect shot. It was the reason why I always failed epically at those shooting games at the arcade whenever I took the opportunity to play them. I could never play games because I was always too concerned with precision.

"Just shoot already."

Daisuke moaned and I almost considered that as my starting signal to take the shot. When the trigger was pulled I felt the movement of the bullet shock my entire arm for my body to swallow and absorb.

"Holy shit! I think that went straight through it."

I heard someone speak and looked up to see that the beer can indeed was now nestled into the sand next to Izumi's. A prideful smirk found its way to my face when Taichi clapped me on the back.

"Nice aim."

--

It was probably early morning and I had now finished my entire ten-pack of cigarettes. My buzz had completely abandoned me and I found my strength to stay conscious failing me while I lounged on the bench that we had been shooting at only minutes before. The dangerous mix of alcohol and medication was also bubbling in my system and drawing me further into a welcomed sleep.

"What are you thinking about?"

I felt the movement of the wood beneath me and heard the creak of its strain when Taichi sat next to me on the bench. Being half asleep as I was it took me a while to register that he was actually trying to talk to me.

"Oh...um...Pardon?"

I mumbled wiping my eyes and trying to straighten my vision at the same time as straightening my collar. In my oblivious state the collar had drooped over my shoulder and nearly exposed the whole left side of my torso.

"Now that we're friends you have to talk to me more. It's so annoying when you just keep everything to yourself. If I didn't know you as well I would've thought you were a mute or something."

I wanted to retaliate that he'd only known me for a few days and could hardly consider himself used to my personality. But the energy to argue had left me. I croaked out a reply and crossed my arms over the bare section of my chest to contain what warmth I could.

"Well, I was just basking in the rarity of it not raining in Odaiba."

"Yeah. This doesn't happen often."

Taichi replied in a voice louder than I would have favoured. Oh but much like usual, that wasn't that last that I would hear from him.

"So, have you been to Odaiba before?"

"A couple of times, for work reasons, but it was always too wet to have a proper tour."

"Hmm, it's weird that I haven't seen or heard about you before. Someone with such bright hair as you is sure to be the talk of the town when you visit."

"It's my curse."

Wanting the conversation to end I closed my eyes and turned my head away from him to rest on my shoulder. However the response that I got from him was not a mile close from what I had expected. If the situation had progressed according to my assumption then Taichi should have left as soon as he realised that I wasn't in the mood to talk. People with his type of personality seem to constantly need entertainment.

But in reality when I turned away from him he did something very much unsuited for a person with his kind of personality. I felt his hand in my hair, brushing stray hairs from my face and pulling them to follow the rest.

"I think it's a curse _and_ a blessing. It really suits you."

His voice was really calm. I was a bit worried about his sudden mood changed. I turned to look at him swiftly, suddenly a bit more awake than I had been. But his face didn't show any kinds of distress or cause for concern. He was just giving me a bit of a smile. It was an expression of happiness that was so unlike his usual toothsome grin that I could have easily mistaken it to belong on someone else's face instead of his.

"Th-Thank you."

I couldn't tell if the radiating heat from my face came from bashfulness or from a developing fever from the cold.

--

The next morning I didn't have a hangover thankfully, but I did have a haughty cough and worse circulation than usual; meaning that if I didn't move my limbs every few minutes my fingers would begin to take on a blue colouring, become numb and then, if left unmoving for long enough, they would drop off. These were typical signs for me of an oncoming illness thanks to the revealing clothes that I had worn and evening chill of the night before.

Our siblings decided to take a day off of having fun to keep us company. Although, it was clear that they had chosen a bad day to bond with us when they realised that Taichi and myself were much less responsive than usual. Hikari had woken us both up with the scent of a cooked breakfast, but neither of us was up to eating. Taichi immediately crawled to a warm shower as soon as he could move. I found pleasure in dozing on the sofa wearing nearly all of the jumpers that I had packed in my suitcase in order to ensure that my beginnings of an illness would not worsen any further.

The chime of the doorbell echoed throughout the large home. Since Hikari and Takeru were cleaning up after their private breakfast they were a bit too busy to answer it.

"Yamato, could you get that for me, please?"

She called and I shuffled my aching, slippered feet to the front door.

"Oh. Hello, Yamato."

It was Taichi's girlfriend. Her name had escaped me but I most definitely recognised her fiery locks and her shapely bust.

"Is Taichi in?"

"He's in the shower if you wanted to talk to him."

"Thanks."

She slipped past me and removed her shoes, not bidding any welcome to Hikari as she leapt across the varnished floor in search of her boyfriend. So shrugging at Hikari's confused faced looking up at me I sat back onto the sofa. I was almost settled and felt myself slowly leaning into the back of the sofa. But just as I felt the material touch my back I was jolted awake by the sound of shouting. It was coming from the bathroom where Taichi had been taking his shower only moments ago. But now the sound of rushing water had been replaced by loud exchanges between man and woman.

At first I had partially deducted from what I'd seen that they were having sex in the shower. But after I realised that their roars were constructed from words I realised that an argument was occurring. And quite an important argument it seemed.

After ten more minutes of screaming and awkward glances between me and the others, the red headed vixen stormed out of the home in a huff and a slamming door following her exit. Taichi exited the steaming washroom moments later with his hair still dripping wet. He stared at the front door with a solid glare, ignoring the rest of us that cowered in the living area.

"Aren't you going to ask what all of the shouting was about?"

He sneered at us. Hikari was the only one brave enough to reply.

"No, it's your business. We're not involved, Taichi."

He didn't turn to confront us, but grabbed his coat and shoes.

"I'm going to the soccer field. I'll be back before dark."

Although his exit was just as dramatic as his girlfriend's, his was much quieter and more composed. I even noticed how the music that played from his headphones was heard to be one of the ones that he had played to me before, saying that it helped him to relieve stress.

--

During the day Hikari was kind enough to make me multiple mugs of warm soup to help combat any oncoming fever that I might have. Takeru was also very tentative towards me, knowing my loathing towards illness and the weakness that I feel while I am in its hold. Although he still had the majority of his attention saved for Hikari he was still courteous to ask how I was feeling regularly throughout the day.

When Taichi returned from soccer practice he definitely seemed much calmer and stress free. He even smiled when he announced his presence.

"Hi, Yamato."

He jostled the sofa as he fell onto the seat next to me. The strong and distinct scent of musk and sweat wafted from him powerfully after an apparently intense session of practice.

"Oh, hello."

I muttered and took another tentative sip from the glass of water in my blanket wrapped hands. He sat next to me in silence, accompanying me in staring vacantly at the flashing television in front of us, yet not taking anything in.

"Oh, you were right about Sora by the way."

Taichi suddenly mentioned, earning a questioning look from myself. Not only had I forgotten what it was that I'd been right about but I also had forgotten completely that Sora was the name of his girlfriend. So he explained further.

"She was all pissed about me not phoning her and trying to make up with her. She's being so possessive and stuff. Going on about how I'm giving other people more attention than I'm giving her."

I nodded in confidence, understanding completely what he meant. This must have been the topic of their argument none too long ago.

Personally, I hate people trying to pry into my business about these sorts of things, so I similarly assumed that Taichi would feel the same and didn't question any further

"So, how many girlfriends have _you_ had?"

The question was sudden, but I couldn't say that I didn't expect it. After having troubles with his girlfriend he was doubting his masculinity or his experience with women. So in order to recover from this phase one would normally make a comparison of themselves to the norm, and since Taichi wasn't aware of what normal was he was seeking me as a source of information. Although I couldn't say that I'd be much help at all.

"I can't say."

"It can't be _that_ bad."

I didn't answer. So as he edged a bit closer towards me to create a false air of secrecy he placed a hand on my shoulder. The weight of the appendage atop of my strongly medicated and completely numb shoulder felt as though it would make me topple completely sideways if not for the strong grip that I had on the arm of the sofa.

"If it makes you feel any better Sora is the third girlfriend I've had in my entire life."

"Interesting."

I nodded sarcastically while shrugging off his hand and allowed him to slip into an expecting silence that lasted for a surprising total of thirty seconds.

"_Please_ tell me. You can trust me."

"It isn't that I don't trust you with the information, it's just that can't tell you because I'm not sure how many I've had."

"That many?!"

He half shouted in some kind of shock. I flinched away from him due to the sudden volume increase, but I recovered quickly. From my less than specific answer he probably assumed that I was some kind of "player" so to speak.

"Probably not half as many as you think."

His stare questioned my meaning as well as looked to be horrified that I had quite a fair amount of experience with women. Placing the water on its coaster on the table I elaborated.

"It's probably because I can't really tell when I'm in a relationship with someone or when I'm just having sex with them."

"So, you're like a womaniser?"

"No, I'm-"

"Yes, he is."

Takeru had stalked into the room with a childish smirk and sat on the arm that I had previously been resting my hand on.

"I'm really not."

"Then is he like a sex addict or something?"

Taichi's expectations of me seemed to be getting worse and worse every time I opened my mouth.

"I'm nothing like that."

I tried to convince him, but alas, my frantic attempt at trying to keep a good impression on Taichi seemed to be ruined by my brother's presence.

"I think he's better suited as a womaniser."

Takeru debated. My Patience was wearing thin with their joking.

"I've never cheated on a partner in my life."

"You don't have to be a cheater to be a womaniser."

"Who's a womaniser?"

Hikari just happened to join us at the moment of Takeru's statement and of course took interest. Unlucky for me I actually cared about her opinion of me more than Taichi's.

"Yamato is, apparently."

Taichi shrugged to her while smiling at my flustered expression. My temper was shortening rapidly

"I'm not."

"That's awful, Yamato. Women should be treated with respect."

Hikari completely ignored my denying of the accusation and took a very strong feminine pose of crossing her arms and leaning on her hip; the kind of stance a woman would take when lecturing her partner.

So, being around angry women quite a few times, not because I am I womaniser, I knew that I shouldn't provoke her or try to make it a joke.

"I _do_ respect women. Why doesn't anyone believe me?"

"Because you've never been with a woman for longer than three weeks."

Both of the Yagami siblings turned to look at me. Hikari's face read to be like a scolding mother's, and Taichi just seemed to be in a bit of shock.

"That's an unfair judgement. Ninety percent of the time _they_ are the ones that break it off."

"Why's that? Is it because you disrespect them or something?"

Hikari questioned in a way that sounded more like an accusation. So, observing my situation I saw to have my brother mocking me, Hikari thinking I was sexist and Taichi just watching it all with a confused expression. I analysed quickly that in order to end the conversation as swiftly as possible it would be best for me to flee. I unwrapped the blanket from my shoulders and folded it onto the seat before standing.

"I think that I've had a fair share of being interrogated for tonight, thank you. I'll be back in a while."

I didn't bother to collect a coat since I was already wearing the majority of what I'd packed. I merely pulled on my battered shoes and prepared to leave.

"What? But I just got back! Don't you want to hang out?"

Taichi called from his place on the sofa and Takeru also joined in to convince me to stay.

"Come on, Yamato. You're gonna get sick if you go out. We were just pushing your buttons."

But ignored both of them and sent them a farewell wave before closing the front door behind me. I was dying for a cigarette now that I had very quickly become accustomed to having a full supply of nicotine at the ready for me. I made my way as slowly as possible to the closest convenience store and allowed my concentration to wander to any interests that I crossed. I wasn't keen on returning too soon. I hoped that if I stayed out long enough then the topic of my love life would be long forgotten and I could relax for the rest of my evening.

After buying the cheapest brand of cigarettes there was with what little change had in my pockets I settled down on a roadside bench and lit my first. The conversation of my love life was still fresh in my mind and I found myself pondering sadly over the women that had been in my life. Oh how very depressed I suddenly became.

The cycle had seemed to repeat itself regularly ever since I'd had my first interaction with a female. As an innocent thirteen year old I had no idea what she'd meant when she'd said that she liked me. And since being a much younger male than her I'd felt slightly intimidated by her superior amount of experience. So I accepted. Then, after she was satisfied and had taken what I had offered she desired to feel the chase for another boy. I was left only with an empty place within me where my innocence had been and what little knowledge she had given me about pleasure. But I used them both unsparingly when I came across the next woman in my life.

I don't remember ever approaching a woman or making a confession. They just seem to take a shine to me. I apparently satisfy their desire for 'a lone wolf who needs someone to love them'. After they realise that I am no such thing they quickly become bored. I've suggested to a few of them that homing a lost puppy would probably give them a lot more happiness than to share a bed with someone such as myself.

I suppose I have yet to realise fully that no love from a woman could make me happy. The only kind of love I need is maternal. But with a girlfriend or wife I would constantly have to take the lead or be the hero. No lover would want me clinging to them in tears when my agoraphobia gets the best of me, or when my nightmares leave me in a state of panic and confusion at two in the morning. A princess needs a knight in gleaming armour, not a child with a shield that he cannot even lift.

--

I began to head back to the house once the street lights had been turned on after successfully depressing myself to the point of just wanting to fall asleep on the bench that I had been sitting on. As soon as I marked the corner of the road I heard dashing footsteps coming toward me at quite a pace.

"Hey, Yamato!"

Taichi's voice called to me and I looked up quickly enough to see him practically screech to a halt in front of me.

"I was just about to go looking for you. I was worried that you'd gotten lost."

"Odaiba isn't nearly big enough to get lost in. I was just wandering."

My voice was muffled around the butt of a cigarette that I still, stubbornly held between my lips even though I was probably smoking cotton. Taichi eyed it for a moment while leaning against a wall that we stood by.

"Mind if I borrow a smoke?"

Silently I retrieved the packet from my pocket and inspected the amount that I had left. In the span of two hours I had inhaled more than half of the tobacco that I had bought, but in a bout of generosity I willingly handed him one of my last along with my lighter.

The bright smile that he gave me as thanks was soon overtaken by the cigarette that he bit down on while lighting it. His first inhale was obviously awkward as a non-smoker. When he coughed it out moments later I felt a chuckle burrow its way through my cover of depression. He laughed as well when he saw the humour of himself.

"I hardly ever smoke."

He punched me lightly on the arm.

"Then why are you smoking now?"

"I'm...stressed I suppose."

I found the idea of Taichi being stressed rather humorous, but not enough to laugh about it. I threw the pitiful remains of my cigarette onto the floor and stubbed it out with the toe of my shoe before lighting myself a fresh one.

Although I didn't necessarily begin a long winded conversation I actually found myself wanting to say something. I had yet to justify my poor relationship record.

"I'm really not a womaniser."

Taichi looked surprised that for once I had been the one to speak first. But with a smile he soothed me.

"I kind of guessed that. You're nowhere near cool enough to be a player."

"Thank goodness you actually understand."

Very unexpectedly I found myself laughing like I had only done a long time ago. It was funny that Taichi knew how uncool I am; it was funny that while he'd told me that he had been close to crying from the cigarette that he didn't know how to smoke; it was funny that women found me pathetic, and it was funny people had judged me as being some kind of a 'player' in the first place.

Taichi joined my laughter as well for his own reasons. Then after a coughing fit that followed my heaves of laughter I sighed and sat on the pavement with a smile. The ground was gritty and cold beneath me, and I was certain that when I stood up I would have a patch of dirt staining the rear of my jeans. But at that moment I was more concerned about a thousand other things over the a few bits of dirt on my clothes.

Sitting down next to me Taichi made a mockery of himself as well.

"Man, I think I totally embarrassed myself back there when I was trying to get you to tell my about your girlfriends. I mean Sora is only my third girlfriend. It's shameful. I didn't actually lose my virginity until I was eighteen."

He took in a lungful of smoke and let released it in the form of a pathetic laugh at himself.

"That's okay. It's better to be picky and wait for the right person than to lose it when you're young to someone that you don't like."

I spoke from experience and quietened once more at the thought of my first love. And even after so long only the thought of her could get me so flustered.

"Hey, Yamato?"

Taichi nudged me out of another moment of mental suffering. In my state of gloom I didn't necessarily reply to him. I just gave him a nod to continue.

"Could...uh...I..."

He stuttered before cutting himself off and moving his eyes away from mine. A pink tint shaded his face dramatically in the street lights and the hand that wasn't holding the cigarette twirled a lock of hair that hung over the corner of his eye.

"Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem. But I was just wondering...if I could try something on you."

"Try what?"

I asked and stubbed out my cigarette on the road in front of me. I didn't have the energy to smoke the rest of it.

"Just..."

Taichi moved his hand as though to make a grab for me, but he stopped himself suddenly. It appeared that a mental war was going on beneath that mountain of hair that was rooted atop of his thick skull.

He stayed in that position for a while, his hand close to my cheek and his dark eyes steely ad distant, staring directly into mine. I was transfixed by the amount of concentration that and strength in those orbs. It was certainly similar to the first gaze that he'd met me with.

Since it didn't seem as though he was going to do something I edged away in order to stand up and head back to the house. However, as soon as I broke my sight from his he seemed to jump to life. The strong hand that had been held in thin air so long firmly held my jaw and pulled my face towards him. And then with my eyes wide open I found his lips embracing mine. I was too shocked to push away at first. His hand on my jaw moved to my hair after my face had been positioned perfectly for him. His touch was gentle and tender. I was confused. His taste was strong and smokey which only meant that my own flavour was much worse after all of the cigarettes that I'd had. It was all really strange. He felt so masculine that I wanted to pull away and punch him in the face for being so direct and inconsiderate. Yet the radiating warmth from his lips and hand made me want to move closer to him on such a cold night.

I found myself staring hard at his closed eyelids and eventually I gathered enough sense to push him away.

"W-What was that for?"

My voice sounded to be of a higher pitch in my state of bewilderment. Taichi's face was beet red and he slid away from me slowly.

"I was just-"

"Yagami Taichi! Are you smoking?!"

Small canvas shoes came stamping towards us and I found Hikari to be interrupting at the most inconvenient time. Taichi abandoned any explanation that he was about to present to me in order to speak to his sister.

"Ugh, Hikari I'm an adult. I can smoke if I want to."

"I'm disappointed in you. Don't you dare bring that cigarette into the house!"

"Alright."

"And brush your teeth."

She shouted, wrapping her oversized cardigan around her torso and dashing back in the direction that she'd come. Takeru waited for her on the front porch of the house.

"She's the only woman in the world that I'm actually afraid of."

Taichi laughed before stubbing out the cigarette. I was still hoping for an explanation for that sudden kiss. Was he questioning his sexuality or something? Or was he questioning mine? I began to pry for an answer.

"So-"

"Ah, it's getting really dark now. We should head back inside. I'm in the mood for some strawberry ice cream. How about you?"

Taichi interrupted and jumped up energetically from the floor. I was thoroughly confused.

"Uh...sure?"

"Great."

He smiled brightly and pulled me to standing using the collar of my jumper as a handle. I stumbled a bit and searched for his shoulder to steady me, but he was already halfway home when I reached out for him. I didn't fall over, but instead used my uneven footing to propel me forward into a run to the house. As I watched Taichi's moving back bounce in front of me I understood that there wouldn't be a single moment throughout this trip to Odaiba where I wouldn't be completely, utterly and irrefutably clueless as to what was going on. Odaiba was insane.

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Finally I updated it. The longest chapter I've ever written. 30 pages!! I wanted to fit as much in as possible so that in the next chapter all of the reeaaallly dramatic stuff could happen.

I haven't proof read it very much because of it's sheer length and my lack of concentration at the moment. Where I live it is currently 1am and I have to get up at 9am. So I am hoping to get this done quickly.

The next chapter may take a while to finish because I am currently swamped with worand I am trying to work on another fic, but I shall try my best.

Good night my lovelies.


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